The Return
by The Smooster
Summary: TOTALLY FINISHED Set 500 years after the end of DBZ, a descendant of both Goku and Vegeta learns how to be a hero... and might just find love along the way.
1. School's Out!

Author's notes.

1. Many of you may have read this story before. I would like to invite you to read it again, as major changes to the story have been made.

2. This is not a happy story. If you do not like that, DON'T read it.

3. This story contains some foul language, lots of violence, gore and death, and some other more mature concepts and problems. If you do not like this, why are you reading DBZ fanfics? DON'T read it

4. This will be a LONG fic. Please give it a chance... The first several Chapters set up the story and are therefore some-what dry.

5. Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball. I did not create Dragon Ball.

(c)2001, Bird Studio/Shueisha, Toei Animation. Licensed by FUNimation Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved, or as otherwise directed by FUNimation. This fan-fiction is not meant to infringe on any copyrights, it is simply here to show my appreciation of and for Dragonball.

This story and any characters, moves or other information not created by those named above are (c)2001-2004 by the Smooster. If you enjoy or enjoyed reading this fiction you have my permission to use any Character, move or other in one of your own, BUT PLEASE give me some credit as I worked quite long to present you with this story.

Enjoy... The Smooster

Names: some of the names are in Japanese and are translated here.

Ichigo Strawberry, Kinomi Berry

Kudamono Fruit, Nashi Pear

Momo Peach, Ume Plum

Ringo Apple, Sakura Cherry

Meron Melon, Aoikinomi Blueberry

The Return

Preface

This story takes place about four hundred years after the end of GT (which the author has never seen being an American who does not know Japanese). Goku is still alive, as the Kaioshin has removed him from the dragon balls to serve as their champion if anything like Buu ever put the universe in danger again. As such, he lives with the Kaioshins on their planet and cannot interfere with the normal progression of the Universe.

Chapter One School's Out!

Thursday, June 5

Son Roshi checked one last time to make sure he had cleared everything out of his locker before he shouldered his backpack and headed for the door. 'I can't believe that the school year is over already.' He thought to himself as he walked past a group of milling younger students and out the front door of Orange Star High School. As he walked down the steps into the courtyard park that was in front of the school, Niko Sweet and Carge Norm ran up to meet him.

"Hey Roshi! What are you doing this summer?" Niko asked sweetly, invoking an odd look from her boyfriend Carge.

Roshi saw the look and laughed, patting Carge on the back. "Don't worry about me, I'm harmless." Turning to Niko he shook his head. "I really don't know. Hopefully staying out of trouble."

Carge rolled his eyes, "You're probably going to be so busy with all the charity stuff your family does that you won't even know it's summer."

Roshi was about to say something when Rock Snob walked past and knocked Carge into Roshi. "Oh if it isn't Roshi the wonder geek. So what worthless causes are you giving all you money away to this year?" Rock asked snidely as he juggled a soccer ball from hand to hand. His friends Clay Jock and Mud Petty snickered like Rock's comment was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Rock was wealthy, not nearly as wealthy as Roshi mind you, but he thought of himself as better then everyone else, just because he had money. Since Roshi had far more money, it made him a threat, and made all of his friends targets.

"Ugh! Just ignore him Roshi, he isn't worth your time." Niko said as she glared at Rock and his friends.

Roshi didn't even waste a glare at the three as he led Niko and Carge away from them and over towards one of the fountains to talk. Even as he walked away, his Saiyan hearing picked up the crude jokes and snide comments that were being shared by Rock and his friends. 'If I could do it without making a scene I would beat some sense into those three, but I can't so it is better that I ignore them.' He thought to himself as he tried to calm down.

"Yeah, so I'll be working in the mall with Mariah and Bambi this summer, so you be sure to stop by and say hi every now and again ok Roshi?" Niko said to pull Roshi out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'll have to visit Mariah and..." Roshi trailed off as he caught sight of Mariah Smart and Keiko "Kit" Kitsune. The two of them were walking down the steps heading into the crowd of people.

"Man, he has it bad." Carge said jokingly to Niko as they laughed about the way Roshi seemed to have forgotten their presence.

Roshi watched Mariah casually walk down the steps. He wondered how she could even walk with all the stuff she was carrying. Her huge backpack was filled to bursting and she carried at least six books in her arms. She saw him and smiled as she started in his direction.

"Hey Roshi, you really aught to ask her out you know." Carge said as he poked Roshi in the ribs. "Everyone in the world knows you like her."

Roshi turned three shades of red and turned on Carge. "Shut up!" He said embarrassedly.

Carge and Niko just laughed. Roshi was about to turn and say something when his good hearing picked up something Rock said.

"Speaking of charity cases, look, it's Bookworm and Dog Face!" He said as he threw the soccer ball into the back of Mariah's head. The ball bounced off surprising her and causing her to flail her arms in an attempt to regain her balance. Her books flew out of her hands and fell down the steps. The weight of her backpack soon caused her to fall face forward hitting her knee on the concrete sidewalk and scraping her hands. Her small oval glasses flew off her face and bounced down the sidewalk several feet. Mariah slowly sat up and placed her hands over her skinned knee. Roshi could tell that she was in a lot of pain but was trying to hold back her tears.

"Awww what's wrong? Did you drop all your books?" Rock taunted from where he stood.

Roshi started to walk forward to help his friends, but both Carge and Niko stopped him. "Roshi don't, you'll only make it worse if you get involved. He takes offense at everyone who does better then him at anything. If you cause him to stand down now, he will only get more vicious later." Niko said while she pulled feebly on Roshi's arm.

Roshi's entire class couldn't stop him from walking if he wanted to go someplace, but her words did. Roshi didn't want to make a scene, and he knew that in many ways, she was right. Rock hated to lose. He was also a bully. If Roshi got directly involved, he would only bring Rock down on them harder the next time.

Kit however, had no such reservations. "Leave her alone, you ignorant bully!" She said as her normally fluffy black tipped silver-white tail and most of her fur started to stand on end.

"Oh look guys, the bitch is playing guard dog!" Rock laughed.

Mariah was a target for Rock's ridicule because she was tied with Roshi for top student in the class. It didn't help that she was poor. The fact that someone who didn't rate a blip in Rock's social group was smarter and more dedicated than him caused her to be the butt of far too many crude jokes and ridicule.

Kit had it far worse. She was a Vulpine. While she was definitely humanoid, she also was clearly not human. She was tall and so thin that she almost looked delicate. Short downy silver white fur covered every inch of her body. She had long dark silver-black hair on her head that ran down to just past her shoulders. On the top of her head her normally pointed black tipped ears were now turned to the side and laid flat against the hair that they parted. She had a longer, flatter, wider nose then normal, and a slightly longer jaw. The difference from a normal girl's face structure was subtle, but with the fine fur even on her face, it was also definitive. Since her lips were parted showing off her long pointed canine teeth, it also made her look a lot more like a predatory fox then normal.

Current situation aside, since Kit was one of just around 900 or so Vulpines living on Earth, and was the only one who attended Orange Star, she was both feared, and brutally picked on for no reason except that she was different. People's irrational treatment of a person who Roshi had found to be kind and generous was one of the main reasons why he was so careful never to reveal how strong he was or that he wasn't entirely human. Kit had never done anything to any of them. When her family had moved to Satan City during Roshi's fourth grade year, he and Mariah were probably the only two people who had given her a chance.

"The correct term is Vixen, you ignoramus!" Kit said back putting emphasis on the last few words as she helped Mariah back up.

"Ah, Dog Face is all upset. Maybe we need to call the pound! Somebody call a vet. This might get messy." Rock said while fishing for something in his pocket. "Wait. How does this sound? I give you this doggie treat." He said while holding up a Milk Bone dog snack, "and you be a good girl and run away"

The crowd that had gathered to watch the confrontation gasped at his words.

"That is going way too far." Roshi said as he pushed Niko's hand off his arm and started to walk through the ring of people.

Mariah had also had enough and walked forward to defend her friend. "That is really low even for you, Rock!" She yelled as she walked up to him to yell into his face.

Rock rolled his eyes and grabbed something from one of his henchmen. "Do I look like I care? Oh wait, I guess you can't see, can you? Guess you need these back." He said as he held up her glasses. He then made a display of snapping them in two. "Oops, how ever will you be able to afford a new pair?" He said as he dropped the broken glasses.

Mariah just stood there dumbstruck by the fact that he had broken her glasses. She was so proud of them. Calling her a charity case was a deep insult. Roshi knew that she had worked very hard and saved so she could afford to get rid of her old clunky frames. Even though he practically insisted to pay for things when he and his friends did stuff, Mariah would always make sure she paid her fair share. Her independence and high spirits were two of the things that Roshi liked best about her.

When she didn't say anything Rock laughed and pushed her back by shoving on her shoulders. "What? Nothing smart to say, Smart?" He said one last time before shoving her backward forcefully causing her to stumble and start to fall. Her arms flailed helplessly as her backpack once again started to lose the war with gravity.

Roshi jumped forward and caught her, stopping her fall just before her head would have hit the ground. Setting her down gently, he stood up to face Rock. "Leave them alone. They didn't do anything to you."

"So, what's your point?" Rock said as he walked down the steps towards Roshi. "What are you, the Great Son Roshi going to do about it? Well?"

Roshi stepped between Rock and the girls as Clay and Mud started to circle around.

Rock walked up and shoved Roshi like he had Mariah. Roshi allowed himself to be shoved back a step. "Well? You wanna play hero and fight? Your dad may be the Best in the world, but you're nothing but a pansy." He said as he shoved Roshi again.

Roshi caught a glance from Kit, as she slowly shook her head no. A worried look of danger flashed through her green gold eyes. Kit was the only person present who knew who he really was. She also knew how dangerous that would make him in a fight.

Seeing her shake her head only reinforced Roshi's resolve not to fight. 'Rock can't hurt me, so as long as his anger and frustrations are transferred to me rather then Mariah and Kit, I win.' "I'm not going to fight you, Rock. Just go home and we can forget about this, ok?"

"What? You chicken? Hey look everyone! Roshi's afraid to fight! Probably afraid it would tarnish the reputation of Mr. Satan to let the world know how big of a pansy he is." Rock pushed Roshi again. This time Roshi didn't budge.

"I'm not going to fight you, Rock, just go away." Roshi said as he casually turned around to walk away.

"Don't walk away from me, you pansy! Look everyone; a descendant of Mr. Satan is walking away from a fight. Mr. Satan's heroic blood must have run out after 497 years huh? You looked good in the Mr. Satan day celebrations last week, but you just can't hack it in real life, huh, geek?"

Roshi kept walking. He stopped to help Mariah pick up her dropped books, but he was totally ignoring Rock.

"Like I thought. He doesn't even know fighting words when he hears them. At least the dog had the guts to talk back!" Rock said as he walked around to stand in front of Roshi. He pulled his fist back and attempted to hit Roshi in the face. Roshi caught Rock's fist and held it. This action pulled a gasp of awe from the crowd. Roshi was a geek. Geeks were not supposed to be able to stop punches.

"Rock, you really don't want to make me mad. Please go away and leave us alone." Roshi said as he stood up.

"Oh, he thinks he can talk his way out of this! Talk is cheap geek. I'm going to make you eat your words." Rock said as he pulled his right fist out of Roshi's grasp and jabbed Roshi in the side of the jaw with his left.

Roshi's head whipped around and he tasted blood. Roshi slowly wiped blood away from his lip and looked at it on his fingers. 'Maybe dropping my ki down so Rock wouldn't hurt himself when he hit me wasn't the smartest idea in the world. Rock can't hurt me, but I can allow myself to be hurt.'

"Oh, look, Roshi got hurt. Looks like you fell a long way from Mr. Satan's tree."

Roshi turned and started to walk away.

"Oh, look everyone, the geek got hurt and now he wants to run away."

Several people in the crowd laughed and a few even added insults to the laughter.

Mud handed Rock something. It was a little blue book with a picture of clouds and a rainbow on it.

"Hey look! Bookworm dropped her diary! Let's see if there is anything really personal in it." Rock said as he opened it up.

Mariah freaked and started to run past Roshi to get her diary back. Roshi didn't have to run. One second Rock was flipping the book open, the next Roshi had grabbed it and Mariah and was handing it back to her.

"You are beyond cruel Rock. Not only are you scum, but you revel in the fact that you are scum." Roshi said sternly. He was very rapidly loosing his patience.

"Ah what's wrong? You too good to hear all the juicy stuff Bookworm puts in her diary? Roshi: the great white knight, protector of flea bitten mongrels and the poor. You talk big, but that is all you are, words."

Roshi was probably the only person who could hear Kit growling. It wasn't a nice sound. "I AM NOT FLEA BITTEN!" She yelled as she snarled at Rock.

"Ah Dog Face is mad now. Next thing we know, she'll be baying at the moon!" Rock laughed as he bent down to pick up another one of Mariah's scattered books.

Roshi grabbed Kit and calmed her down before she did anything she would regret. Back about six years ago, someone had thrown a water balloon at Kit that was filled with a hyper strength Nair like chemical. Kit had lost patches of fur all over her body and people started making fun of her for having mange. Needless to say, she took it personal when people mentioned fleas.

"Hey look, pictures!" Rock said as he opened up the artists pad. Mariah's mother was a fairly good artist. Good enough to keep them in house and home, and fed, but by no means famous. Roshi happened to know that the pad that Rock now held was a collection of Mariah's mother's earlier work.

"You should be more careful, Bookworm, art like this is priceless" Rock said as he slowly started to rip a full color ink drawing in half.

Roshi grabbed Rock's hand and squeezed. "Give the pad back."

Rock gasped in pain and dropped the pad, but managed to hold on to some of his bravado. "Or what? You going to hit me or something?"

"Yeah, I just might."

"Oh this is funny. You almost failed boxing cause you couldn't hit anyone and you think you can actually beat me in a fight? I don't care if you are a descendant of Mr. Satan, you can't beat me.

Ignoring Rock's comments, Roshi bent over to pick up the pad, and Rock kicked him in the face. Roshi did a complete back flip and landed on his feet next to Mariah. Most of the people were so shocked to see Roshi the geeky nerd pull off a back flip that they didn't notice Rock hopping on one foot like he had stubbed his toe.

Roshi had his back turned to Rock and was whispering something to her when Clay handed Rock the baseball bat. Several people yelled warnings that they thought would do no good as Rock sucked up the pain and charged at Roshi and Mariah.

Roshi pushed Mariah out of the way and ducked under Rock's overextended swing. He popped up inside the reach of the bat and slammed his fist into Rock's nose. Rock's nose collapsed beneath Roshi's fist with a satisfying crunch, and his beady eyes rolled up into his head. The force of the punch knocked the teen back several meters. The stream of blood, which gushed from his collapsed nose, left a puddlely trail as he fell through the air.

Roshi looked down at his now bloody hand. 'What have I done?' He asked himself in horror.

"SON ROSHI! I would have expected better from one of my top students!" Principal Fierce yelled, as he seemed to suddenly appear on the scene. "I cannot believe, you, of all people got into a street brawl, and on school grounds of all places! If this weren't the last day of school for this session, I would have you expelled!"

"It wasn't his fault. He was only trying to keep Rock from destroying my mom's art pad." Mariah said as she tried to defend Roshi's actions.

"I don't care what caused it. Fighting is a serious breach of conduct. Go to my office and wait there, Roshi." Mr. Fierce scanned the crowd. "Someone go get a nurse to look at Rock. And be quick about it." He said as he looked down at Rock.

A young man ran off to fetch the nurse.

"Mr. Fierce, you can't punish Roshi. Rock almost hit him with a baseball bat. He probably saved Mariah's life!" Kit said exasperatedly.

Mr. Fierce was known for being very strict. He didn't like it when anyone told him how to do anything. The balding middle-aged man glared at Kit for a moment before looking at Mariah and seeing the bat, which was lying a few feet from where she was standing.

"Miss Smart, what happened to your glasses? And how did you get such a nasty scrape on your knee?"

Mariah looked down at her knee for a moment. "Rock broke my glasses. I got the scrape on my knee after he hit me on the back of the head with his soccer ball."

Mr. Fierce grimaced and looked at Rock who was now being attended to by the nurse. "He did, did he? Well, you need to go have that scrape looked at. Go to the nurses office, I am sure she will attend to you shortly." He looked around. "The rest of you can go home. There is nothing here to see. Enjoy your vacation, and stay out of trouble."

While most of the crowd left, Niko, Carge, and Kit stayed to wait for Mariah and Roshi.

--

Meanwhile, in Mr. Fierce's office, Roshi was listening to Mr. Fierce talk to his mother on the phone.

'I am dead beyond simply being dead when I get home. First my mom is going to kill me, and then when she is done dad is going to have my rear in a sling. How could I be so stupid as to let him get on my nerves? I never should have hit him. Heck, I was angry enough I am lucky I didn't kill him on accident. That would look real great in the headlines. Descendant of Mr. Satan murders classmate in street brawl. I am so dead.'

Mr. Fierce got off the vidphone and looked at Roshi. "Well, your mother said that you would be punished for this indiscretion, and since it is the first time you have ever gotten into a fight, I would like to just send you home, but I cannot do that. I need to punish you somehow." Mr. Fierce's vidphone rang. He answered it. Roshi could easily hear a man who identified himself as Rock's father insulting and threatening Mr. Fierce as the Principal tried desperately to explain the situation. He finally gave up. "Sir, you may take any action you wish, including pulling your son from this school for next year's classes, but I have several witnesses who say that Rock started the fight. The Son boy is being punished for being in the fight and so will your son. If you have a problem with this you can take your complaints elsewhere." Mr. Fierce ended the connection and looked tired. He slowly turned his chair away from Roshi and stared at the wall behind his desk for a few minutes. He then reached out and absent- mindedly brushed some dust off of a placard that read "Son Goshu."

Roshi was very proud of that wall, but he also hated it at the same time. Every year since the school was build the top graduating student got their name put on a placard and placed up on that wall for all the students who entered the office to look at. From his father Goshu all the way back some 500 years to Gohan there was a Son named every twenty or so years. Every single one of Roshi's ancestors since Gohan had attended Orange Star, and every single one of them had graduated top in their class. It was a mark of honor, but it was also one heck of a pain to live up to.

"You know, your father was one of my first students. You remind me a lot of him. Just like you, he was studious and highly lacking in athletic ability. I couldn't understand how the son of Son Yoshu the reigning Master of The Budoukai could be such a klutz. None of the world champions ever challenged Yoshu for that title, but I saw several of your grandfather's exhibition matches when I was younger. He made fighting beautiful to watch. I was at the Budoukai last year when that alien won the tournament and challenged your father for title of Master of the Budoukai. Your father made quick work of the poor idiot. He moved even faster then your grandfather had." Mr. Fierce took his glasses off and slowly polished them. "I have to admit that I watched most of your confrontation with Rock. I should have stopped it as soon as Mariah skinned her knee, but by the time I got there, you were involved. I had to admit that I was curious as to see what you would do, or could do."

Roshi tried to shrink into his chair. 'Great, he's on to me. Next thing I know he is going to try to get me to be the captain of the baseball team or something.'

"I have to admit that I am impressed by your ability to convince almost everyone that you are a helpless klutz. Had I not taught your father and seen him pull off the same act, I too would have fallen for it. You probably have your reasons for doing what you are doing, so I won't ask you to stop, but I am curious, how much martial arts training have you had?"

Roshi frowned. 'Lie or tell the truth? Lie or tell the truth?' He let out a long breath. "It would not be overly arrogant of me to claim that my father and Piccolo the third, the man who challenged my father last year, are probably the only people on the planet that would give me much of a challenge. Rock may have started that fight, but I am the one who is more guilty because I allowed it to get to the point were people got hurt."

Mr. Fierce sighed. "Very well then. I want you to go find the head janitor and help him to scrub the floors before you head home tonight. Next fall you will help scrub the floors every night for a month. That way you will have plenty of time to think about what happened today."

Roshi found the head janitor and started to mop the floors of the school.

--

Mariah came out of the school to join the rest of the gang about ten minutes after the fight ended. She walked with a slight limp, but that was probably more from the weird ice pack brace thingy that the nurse had strapped on her knee to keep swelling down then from it actually hurting.

"Hey guys, have any of you seen my glasses? I didn't pick them up before going into the school. I might be able to get them fixed, but I need to find them back first." She said sounding quite concerned.

Kit, Carge, and Niko scanned the ground for a moment, but quickly gave up. "I didn't see them," Carge said. "We picked up all your books and stuff, but I never saw any glasses."

"Ha! That's probably because you were too busy trying to get me to let you read her diary to look!" Niko said as she stood up pulling Mariah's diary out from under her.

Mariah quickly took it from her and held it to her chest as she walked up and stood about a foot from Carge so she could actually see him. "You wouldn't have actually read this would have you?"

"Well ah no... Well maybe... Oh come ON! It is every guy's sick fantasy to read a girl's diary. Why should I be any different?" Carge asked while wisely moving away from the three girls.

Niko rolled her eyes, "Roshi didn't seem to have any problem being a perfect gentleman."

"Yeah well that's because Roshi's a goody-goody. I'm willing to bet that if he saw your diary sitting out during one of those late night study sessions you two always seem to have the time for, that he would try to peek at it too. Only idiots like Rock would actually read someone's diary in public." Carge said to defend himself.

"Hey! All we do is study! There isn't anything going on. Besides, we usually meet at the library!" Mariah retorted.

Carge was about to say something when Kit interrupted him, "hmmm, let me get this straight. Only idiots would read someone else's diary in public? Hey Mariah what's the definition of public?" Kit asked acting innocent.

Carge realized where the line of inquiry was going and interrupted. "Ok, so I'm an idiot! I admit it. I'm sorry ok! Would you please get off my case now?"

Niko giggled. "Awwwh, you are sooo cute when you are embarrassed.

"Whatever. Hey look guys; Roshi is probably going to be in there for a while. We should do something while we wait for him." Carge said to change the subject.

The four of them talked for a while and couldn't think of anything to do that would allow them to keep track of Roshi.

"I'm not going anywhere, we might as well just sit here and talk." Kit said as she reclined as far as she could on a park bench.

"Do any of you guys know where Roshi keeps his cloud thing when he is in school?" Niko asked.

Kit sat up, "you mean the Kintoun? It flies away when he gets here and comes back when he calls it, why?"

"Well, Roshi isn't using it now. I just thought it would be kinda fun to fly around on it." Niko said with a giggle.

"Well call the thing, who knows, it may come here. But haven't you ridden it before?" Kit asked.

"No, you mean to say that you have?" Niko said sounding a touch jealous.

"Well, sort of. Last fall Mariah and I helped Roshi paint a bunch of historic buildings that his family was helping to renovate, and... well... I..."

Mariah laughed at Kit's reluctance. "She stepped on my paint roller that I had put down in the wrong place and slipped off the scaffolding. Roshi was bringing more paint up on his cloud and he caught her and brought her back up to the top."

"What?! You mean miss perfect balance slipped and almost killed herself?" Carge asked with feigned concern.

"Hey, just because I have good reflexes doesn't make me perfect, so Naaahh!" Kit said back sticking out her tongue.

Mariah suddenly jumped and yelled as if something had frightened her. The other three turned and found her poking the Kintoun. "Kami this thing scared the dickens out of me! It must have heard us talking about it and came here."

Niko giggled, "I wonder where it's ears are."

"Oh please! Niko, this thing may have a really fancy computer or something, but it isn't alive!"

Niko put on a fake pout. "Well then why does it only like some people? I saw Clay try to jump on it one time after Roshi called it and he fell right through it!"

"I don't know, but I wish Capsule Corp would make more of them though, this thing is neat."

"I don't think Capsule Corp made this." Kit said after Carge finished.

"Why do you say that?" Mariah asked, "Where else would he get it?"

"I couldn't tell you, but all he has ever said was that it used to belong to Son Goku and that it was the only one he knew of." Kit replied.

"Goku? I think I remember that name. Wasn't that Goku guy almost as good as Mr. Satan?" Carge asked.

'That Goku guy?' Kit thought. "Um, one doesn't get a twenty foot statue in the hall of heroes at the Budoukai without being a good fighter."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean. Last week was the celebration of the 524th Anniversary of Mr. Satan's defeat of Cell. He saved the world. No one can claim to have done so much before or since. To say that this Goku guy was almost as good as Mr. Satan is really saying something to me. Besides, if my memory is right, Goku lived during the same time as Bulma Briefs. I'm sure he got it from her." Carge retorted.

"Whatever," Kit said as she hoped up onto the Kintoun. "Are we going to go for a ride or not?"

"Well, I know I can't see very well, but that thing isn't that big. Will all four of us fit on it?" Mariah asked as she tentatively poked at the cloud some more.

"No problem," Carge said, "I'll get on it and then you two can sit on my lap and Kit can sit right behind me and hold on."

"Um, snookums," Niko said.

"Yes?"

Niko softly patted Carge on the cheek and then kissed him. While she kissed him she sucker-punched him softly in the gut.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"If I can't get sweet on Roshi, you can't get sweet on those two." Niko said back as she poked him in the center of his chest.

Carge grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a kiss and whispered something into her ear. Niko started giggling and kissed him back.

Kit arched her head back, stuck out her tongue and let it flap at the side of her mouth, started to make gurgling noises, and acted like she was grasping at an invisible rope.

"Ah! PDA PDA! Get a room!" Mariah laughed.

"What can't we be passionate?" Niko asked innocently.

"Only if you get Kit and me a couple of guys too!" Mariah shot back.

Carge laughed. "That shouldn't be too hard. Get Roshi for you," He paused and looked at Kit, she glowered back. "Ah, and I'm sure we can find someone who would go for an exotic girl like Kit."

"So I'm exotic now am I?" Kit asked. Her tone of voice made it clear she didn't like the conversation and the subject was dropped.

Niko climbed on behind Kit and scooted back a bit. "Mariah you can sit between Kit and me." She said. "Hey! Earth to Mariah! You home? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just Roshi would never go for me, we're just friends. He's way too good for someone like me." Mariah said dejectedly.

"That's nonsense!" Niko said surprised. "Don't put yourself down girl!"

"Yeah, I mean why wouldn't he like you? Your smart, and se..." Carge shut up before he ate his foot for dinner.

Niko smirked at Carge. "Yeah! What you know he meant to say!" Turning to Carge she continued "and you better not be thinking those thoughts about my friends!"

Mariah blushed and laughed. "It's ok Niko, he was only being himself." She said as she climbed onto the Kintoun.

The three girls tried to squish themselves together so that there would be room for Carge. He took about ten steps back and acted like he was a cowboy out of some western running up to jump on his horse.

"Yeeeee Haawwwww!" He yelled as he jumped up and landed behind Niko. He managed to grab her shoulders before falling though the Kintoun and pulling her off backwards as he landed on the sidewalk.

"Owwww! That hurt!" Carge said as he helped Niko off of himself.

The Kintoun turned and floated back a bit so that Kit and Mariah were facing their two fallen comrades.

"And you were making fun of me for being clumsy a bit ago right?" Kit asked with a laugh.

Carge stood up and walked over to the Kintoun. He passed his hand right thought it. "Ok, why can you three ride it but it won't let me?"

"You made fun of it earlier, you hurt it's feelings." Niko said laughing as she poked him in the ribs.

Carge passed his hand through the cloud again. "Hey what's this?" He asked as he pulled a couple of capsules out of the cloud. He started to read the labels on them. "Huh, camping stuff. I guess Roshi is actually serious about taking us out camping tomorrow."

"Well he lives out in the middle of nowhere. I bet he knows the best campgrounds." Niko said.

"I never saw Roshi as much of a camper. He said something about living off the land when he talked to me about the trip. I don't know about you, but I don't know if we should encourage him." Mariah said.

"Oh never fear, if nothing else the ol' Kit Fox here can probably catch us some rabbit or something." Carge laughed.

Kit ground he teeth for a moment. "If I didn't know better I would think you were taking lessons from Rock on how to be offensive. I doubt I could catch anything even if I did try, besides, I doubt we will be roughing it much. That big capsule you have is a five room capsule house."

The four of them had a good laugh. "Sorry Kit, I was only joking, but yeah you're right. I guess we know Roshi's definition of roughing it now."

"Yeah, well common Niko. Your boyfriend can't ride this thing, but that's no reason for us to not have some fun." Kit said as she turned the cloud around to point the other way.

Niko climbed on, and the girls took off.

--

Roshi got done scrubbing the floors and headed to his locker, where he had stashed his stuff. After grabbing his book bag, he carefully picked up the two pieces of Mariah's glasses. 'Little bit of ki welding and these should be good as new. Then I can stop by Mariah's place on the way home and drop them off. It's the least I can do.' He thought as he looked to make sure no one was around. Using a little arc of ki electricity he welded the frames back together and then buffed a shine back onto them. 'There, good as new! Give these back to Mariah and then I guess I should go visit Rock. I feel bad, I never should have hit him.' Roshi frowned and walked out the door of the school to find Carge sitting on a park bench.

"Hey Roshi! Bout time you showed up. I was getting bored."

"You waited for me? Ok man, what's going on? School let out an hour and a half ago."

"Nothing, honest. The girls took your cloud for a little joy ride. I would have gone with, but the stupid thing wouldn't let me ride it."

Roshi laughed. "It wouldn't? Wonder why."

"Couldn't tell you. Hey, aren't those Mariah's glasses? How'd you fix them?"

Roshi realized belatedly that he was holding her glasses right out in the open. "Ah well ah... I uh... I had to help the janitor clean and well I ah... went into the shop room and well welded them back together."

"Right, ok what really happened. Breaking Rock's nose I can believe. You playing with power tools I can't see happening."

"Hey! I'm not just a descendant of Mr. Satan you know. I'm a descendant of Bulma Briefs too! If I can fight, why can't I play with power tools? Besides, I'm a guy, what guy doesn't like to play with power tools?"

Carge held his hands up. "Ok you got me." He said as the three laughing girls suddenly flew up on the Kintoun.

"You should let us ride this thing more often Roshi! That was more fun then I have had in ages!" Niko said as she jumped off.

Carge grimaced and spoke up. "Hey Mariah, Roshi fixed your glasses. Not only is he rich and famous, but also he beats up bullies and is pretty handy with the tools. You make him your sex slave and life would be almost easy."

"Ah! Carge you're disgusting!" Niko said before she slapped him and tackled him. Before long they were laughing and kissing.

The rest of the group just laughed at the two of them.

'I shouldn't be laughing.' Roshi told himself. 'I came just the smallest bit away from killing Rock today. Some hero I am. By the time Gohan was 16 he had saved the world several times. He even became the Great Saiyaman to fight crime in Satan City. Goku and Vegeta died several times for their beliefs. The most heroic thing I've ever done is break a bully's nose and he didn't stand a chance against me, so who was really the bully?'

Roshi shook his head. 'Well, at least Mariah still likes me. It could be worse, she could have freaked out when she saw all the blood on my hands. I only meant to stop him from picking on her and Kit. Why is it that the only things that break up the monotony of my life are bad? I wish something truly great would happen to me.'

He looked at Mariah as she put her glasses on and then pulled her shoulder length light brown hair out from beneath the frames. Her brown eyes lit up when she could see again and she smiled at the group. She saw him watching her and blushed smiling deeper which brought out her dimples.

'Then again, maybe something great has happened.' He thought as he tried to push the blue thoughts out of his head. He smiled back at Mariah. 'Who knows, maybe I shouldn't complain, I guess my life is pretty good as it is.' He sighed. 'But why settle for good when you can hope for greatness?'

Noticing a speck of blood on the sidewalk Roshi's spirits dropped a bit. 'Then again, at what cost does greatness come?'

--

AN: Well there you have it. The revision of the first chapter is complete. Please review, as your comments are very helpful and important to me.

AN2 Keiko "Kit" Kitsune is on loan from the Kitsune Den where she is (will be) the official mascot as soon as Kitsune Maxwell finds a scanner. Kitsune means Fox in Japanese by the way.

AN3: I am lazy and didn't find a way to write this into the story, so I will explain it here. Mr. Satan ended up running the Budoukai. After his death, the tournament more or less became a fight only between the various Saiyans living on earth. This hurt Martial arts in general since normal people were more or less certain to loose. The tournament started to die off. Therefore, the Budoukai was changed. The Son family still more or less runs the thing, but they rarely ever fight in it. Instead, one of them is given the title Master of the Budoukai. This person is seen by the world as the best martial artist in the world. If the World Champion (the person who wins the tournament) wants to claim both titles, he or she can challenge the person who is the Master of the Budoukai for that title and double the prize money. I hope this explains that stuff a little bit.

Special thanks to Kitsune Maxwell who helped me edit this chapter.

Second editor's note: The Smooster is going to thank his loyal follower Ben "Black Eva" Rusch for his hard work in reediting this for him.


	2. When death comes knocking on your door

Chapter 2 When Death comes Knocking on Your Door

Meanwhile on a far away planet in the Southern portion of the West Galaxy (For those of you who do not know earth is in the northern portion of the North Galaxy. I think... if I am wrong sorry)

Ichigo Kudamono, Princess of all Saiyans swept the warrior's feet from under him and then nailed him in the small of the back with her other foot. Her victim slammed into the far wall of the dojo and left a bloody streak on the wall when he fell. She glared at the remaining men in the room and then waited as the various warriors she was fighting slowly got back up.

"Is that the best you can do? You call yourselves warriors? Maybe you need to be sent to nursemaid children, you MIGHT be able to challenge them!" When none of the warriors made any effort to reply she yelled even louder. "Are you weaklings just giving up? Attack me! I need a challenge if I am to improve!" She yelled at them to incite them to attack harder.

Ichigo had figured out long ago that it was more effective to train against other people than it was to just do physical exercises. The only problem was that since she was the Crown Princess, she had trouble finding worthy people to train against. 'I hate it when they don't fight at their best.' She thought as she casually invited the seven remaining warriors forward to attack.

"That will be enough." A baritone voice said from the doorway.

Ichigo turned to see her father and Meron, the Captain of the Palace Guards and General of the Armies enter the room. Of the eleven people already in the room, only Ichigo did not attempt to take a knee. She just patiently waited to see why her father had interrupted her routine.

"Lieutenant Budo, I am disappointed in your teams performance in this trial. Therefore, I am transferring you and your combat team to Orchard Point were you will guard the hallowed until such time as you learn proper discipline or muster out of service." King Kudamono said to the man in charge of the warriors Ichigo had been training against.

Lieutenant Budo shot to his feet. "With all due respect Sir, I was not aware that this was a trial of evaluation!"

The King causually scratched his goatee, "And your performance would have been different had you known?"

"By all means sir!"

Ichigo chewed on her lip for a moment while glaring at the man. 'Advancement in rank is worth your effort? But I am not? You had better hope you never return from Orchard Point.' Ichigo seethed.

Her father had slowly let his hand drop after hearing what the Lieutenant had said. He turned to glance at Meron and then looked back at Budo. "Allow me to set this very clear. Ichigo is my daughter. As such she is due every bit of honor and respect you would show me. By deliberately disobeying her orders you were in effect disobeying me. I will not tolerate disrespect. You have been warned. Loose your misplaced chauvinism or your next failure will be your last. Is that clear?"

Budo cringed, "Yes sir!"

"Get out of my sight before I change my mind."

Budo and his men didn't even take the time to comment, and they were gone moments later.

Ichigo inwardly cringed. Orchard point was a former summer palace on the opposite side of the planet. During the Kudamono-Vegeta civil war, it was the sight of a battle in which over 400,000 Saiyans had killed each other in bloody combat. A military honor guard was kept there at all times. Too guard Orchard Point was said to be one of the most honorable postings in the entire military. But it was also a dead end posting. Most warriors return from those haunted grounds only shells of their former selves.

Meron cocked an eyebrow toward her father, "I wonder if they realize that their careers as warriors are over, or if they think that you are testing them to see if they can regain what little honor they have left."

Kudamono laughed. "Ichigo, care to answer that for me?"

Ichigo was used to being put on the spot, so she didn't answer right away, but took some time to think about the comment. "Um, as you well know General Meron, the answer to that is most likely both. If they find the discipline that they now lack they will be welcomed back, if not, then their failure today will only be the first in a string that will doom them."

Her father slowly shook his head. "Yes, that more or less sums it up. Budo is not a bad warrior, he has just been influenced a bit too far in the wrong direction. Since I consistently rotate a few more trusted people out to Orchard Point on shorter stays, I hope to influence them back into the fold."

"Ah, the old 'guide them gently and let them learn and they will love you, scold them strongly and force them to learn and they will hate you' ideology?" Meron said with a smirk. "There are many who say that you are weak because you allow people to learn from their mistakes you know."

The King laughed, "Good, let them think so. Misconceptions can sometimes be the most dangerous and easily manipulated of things. For instance, Ichigo here does not realize she likes to leave an opening in her defenses on her left back side." He said turning to look at his daughter.

Ichigo bristled. "I do not have a blind spot in my defenses!" She said back to her father.

He smirked. "Is that so? Meron, would you be so kind as to teach my daughter that she really does leave an opening to attack."

"I shall do my best." Meron said as he walked to the center of the training room opposite Ichigo.

Ichigo watched him warily. The only word that could describe Meron was the term massive. He stood 2.1 meters tall, and weighed in around 150 kg. Ichigo surrendered 35 centimeters of height and 90 kg to him. He had a good deal higher power level and a lot more combat experience. Warriors like him didn't find holes in their opponent's defenses; they made holes where they wanted them.

Ichigo creped back a bit and crouched some. She also turned to present her right side to him and slid her left foot back as she couched. This presented a far smaller target to him, and still allowed her to be just as quick and nimble.

Meron started to circle. "No Ki attacks, pure physical." He instructed.

Ichigo had turned with him to continue presenting him with her right side. She nodded at his comment and frowned. Denied the use of her ki attacks, she would have to move within his extensive reach to be able to attack. Then there was the fact that Meron was a grapple and throw type of fighter. If he got a handhold on her, the fight would be over. 'Then again, this is only a defensive exercise. I don't have to hurt him, just keep myself from being hurt.' Ichigo set her jaw and half squinted as she glared at Meron. 'Forget that, the best defense is a good offense.'

Ichigo dropped to the floor and lunged forward sweeping her feet in front of her. When Meron started to jump over the expected leg sweep, Ichigo rolled to her side and bouncing off her knee and right hand, she forced herself into the air. Pirouetting in the air, she kicked Meron in the face.

Meron tucked himself into a ball and flipped backwards. As he spun through the air, he lashed out with both legs and kicked Ichigo hard in the back. She spun through the air for several meters befor she regained control of her flight. Stopping in midair she turned to face Meron.

"Is that the best you can do?" He taunted, "I would have thought the Princess could do better."

Ichigo grimaced and glared back down at him. "Not going to work Meron. I know you are not a closed minded bigot, and I also know that I am fighting with an extreme disadvantage right now. You excel at close ranged combat."

Meron shrugged. "And your point would be? You are setting yourself up to lose this fight. I am not going to let you out the easy way by beating you quickly. If you don't actually try, I can make this very slow and painful."

"That hardly seems fair since you won't let me use ranged ki attacks." Ichigo retorted.

Meron chuckled. "Yeah, well life's a bitch isn't it?" He said as he flew at her.

Ichigo decided to change her strategy. She shot straight up to the ceiling ten stories above her and then flipped to push off of it. She then spent the next half hour bouncing from wall to wall avoiding Meron for the most part and only trying for quick hit and run punches, jabs, and kicks. Meron connected a few times, but for the most part, he just followed her around and blocked her attacks.

"You do realize that if you want to wear me out, you will have to keep this pace up for at least another several days, do you not?" Meron asked as she once again bounced off of a wall a few meters in front of him.

This time however, she performed back flip and flew straight at him. He blocked with his hands and caught her fists. This being what she wanted, she used the force of the collision to slingshot herself around and slammed her right knee into his nose.

Meron let go so she brought her left leg up to smash her foot into his jaw and then kicked him again in the neck with her left foot.

That was when he slammed the tip of his right foot into her back. The blow struck her on her left side right by her kidney. She felt something in her back pop and pain shot up her spine.

"Ahhh!" She gasped as the blow stunned her for a moment. That moment was all Meron needed to rap both of his hands around her left thigh right above her knee and throw her into the floor.

She landed flat on her back and made a nice Ichigo sized indentation in the granite tiles. Meron landed next to her and non-to-gently kicked her left hip with his foot. "Now what was this about not having a weak defense on your left side?"

Ichigo grumbled under her breath and sat up and rubbed her back. "Meron, please don't patronize me. You and my father have been able to do just about anything you wanted with me for as long as I can remember. Tomorrow you will claim I have a blind spot to my right and I have no doubt that no matter what I do, you will find a way to prove it." She finished and finally looked up at him. "Ouch!" She said as she saw his smashed face. She had broken his nose and smashed his bottom teeth through his top lip. A fairly large stream of blood flowed down his face.

He casually wiped blood off of his face, "Yes, I commend you on your attack. I was expecting something along those lines, but you got through my guard far better then I did to you. However, that is of little importance, you still would be dead if this had been real combat. Don't let a lucky string of attacks blind you to your opponent's actions."

"I will try harder."

"No doubt, I fully expect you to beat Meron shortly, but do me a favor, Ichigo. Don't kill him; I really would miss his advice. All three of those kicks were powerful enough to kill just about anyone." The King said as he walked over carrying the clipboard onto which Ichigo had posted her training notes.

Ichigo shuddered. "I wasn't trying to kill him, but he was the one who insisted on purely physical combat. How else was I supposed to hit him hard enough to get him to stop?"

Kudamono laughed. "Indeed, I tend to have the same problem when I spar with him. Just be careful not to let your need to win overshadow your judgment. This exercise was about blocking and defense, not attacking. While your strategy almost worked, you would have probably been better served to let him go on the offensive."

Ichigo nodded and turned to look at Meron. "You know you're bleeding all over the floor. There's a medkit right over there" She said pointing.

"Don't bother with the medkit, go to the infirmary and see if you can get that checked out. If you can, meet me at the Parade Grounds in twenty minutes or so." Her father ordered.

"I'll be there." Meron said befor quickly leaving the room.

Once they were alone, the King turned and looked at his daughter. "You are trying too hard. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone Ichigo."

She looked up at him. "Yes I do. You saw how Budo acted. And then there is Captain Banana and many many like them. Meron would do anything for either of us. He doesn't share the ideologies of most of the troops. In a few years I am going to be expected to be able to order warriors to their deaths. I have no doubt that they would follow those orders, but I want them to WANT to follow my orders. You hardly ever even have to order people, they just do it because they trust you and practically worship your lead. If I cannot even prove I deserve their respect, how am I ever to gain their trust?"

"By being who you are, not who they think you should be." He father said as he grabbed her shoulders and directed her towards the door. "What the men like Captain Banana forget is that you no more chose to be female, then he chose to be male. We are what we are. We can, however, make choices that change who we are. By those choices you will win them over one by one, dear."

"But they don't care, they look no further then my title Princess and they hate me for it."

Her father sighed. "Ichigo, what those fools forget is that we have 5,000,000 warriors on this planet. Almost 2,000,000 of them are women. They fight just as well as the men they are stationed with. Many of them fight better. What you both forget, however, is that there are well over 200 million people on Saiya. We have a strong warrior tradition, but that is not all we are. Just because Crown Princesses are rare, does not make them unfit to rule."

Ichigo looked up at her father. 'Rare? Dad, there are 2 males born for every one female. The last time a Crown Princess was born into the Royal family and actually lived to take the throne was 1,241 years ago!' "Father, what has it been, eight generations since the last time there even was a princess let alone a Crown Princess destined to inherit the throne?"

Kudamono laughed. "Okay, so you have me. Rarity and time do not change the fact that there is absolutely nothing that would make you unfit to lead. You let them get to you far too easily. My suggestion: beat the crap out of them."

This brought a smile to her lips. "And here I thought you were scolding me for being too willing to fight."

King Kudamono just shook his head. "At times you are just a bit, anyway, now we can get back to your training." He said as he brought out the clipboard from behind his back. "I notice you have a lot of combat drills planned but almost nothing for speed and endurance drills."

'That would be because I hate speed drills' Ichigo thought to herself as she waited to see what her father had planned.

"Well, I need to correct this. Follow me, I have something special set up." He said as he turned around and walked out of the room.

"Great, that man had this planned the entire time. I have got to learn how to manipulate people like he can." Ichigo said to herself as she started out the door.

--

A few minutes later Ichigo and her father arrived at the Palace entrance to the Catacombs.

'Why did I know he was going to make me do a Catacomb run?' Ichigo thought as she grimaced.

The Catacombs were not actually catacombs. They were a massive network of tunnels that meandered around under the Capital city of Hayashi. Since her father wanted Meron to meet him at the Parade Grounds, she guessed that that was where she would have to go. The Parade Grounds were only 10 km from the Palace, so it would take her father next to no time to get there. Through the Catacombs, however, it could be anywhere from 500 to 5000 km away depending on which traps, dead ends and side tunnels her father had ordered to be used for this exercise.

King Kudamono looked at a clock which on a near by wall. "Meet me at the Parade Grounds in ten minutes.

Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Sure thing, don't be late." She said back as she darted into the dark tunnel.

Ichigo brought her ki to the surface of her skin and produced a bright pinkish red aura. The maze of tunnels had no light. Since it was strictly forbidden to take lights or scouters down in the tunnels, her aura was her only source of light.

Being forced to fly very fast in a timed trial through hairpin turns, dead ends, traps that could wound or kill, and various other Saiyans who had been posted as "hunters" made the Catacomb run one of the most dangerous if not the most dangerous training and trial grounds in the Saiyan military. Normal warriors were not even allowed in them until they had finished their first tour of duty at the age of 20. Ichigo almost had the locations of the more dangerous stationary traps memorized.

As she practically flew into a wall in a dead end, however, she realized that the other problem with the Catacombs was that doors could open or close, walls could move and traps were never really the same twice. It was never the same so memory was not an aid.

Ichigo was starting to grow tired. Keeping an aura glowing took massive amounts of energy. Flying very fast also took a lot of energy. Doing both at the same time while avoiding laser beams, ki blasts, falling nets, titanium darts, acid jets, and fire traps was not the easiest thing to do. She knew she was getting closer to where she needed to be because every several km, there was a map that had a you are here sticker on it. The map was of the city above, so stopping to look at it would not help her one bit. But, the dots were generally moving towards the Parade Grounds.

Ichigo had to totally stop twice. Once when she flew into a box trap and had to beat her way through a meter of titanium. And once to make sure she had not accidentally killed a misfortunate warrior who had jumped her near a spike trap and had been knocked in when Ichigo had not even slowed at the sight of the woman.

As she neared the exit, she flew into a room with thousands of pipes and bars running from floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall. Ichigo quickly started using her hands, feet, and tail to swing and slingshot from bar to bar across the room.

Then she saw Captain Banana waiting for her in front of the exit. 'Fubar! First my dad makes me fight the second strongest after him, and now I have to get past the third strongest warrior. How can my life get any better?'

Ichigo got set to fight Banana when she realized something, 'all I have to do is get past him. If I drift to the left, I can grab that pipe and slingshot behind him to that other pipe and then use it to slingshot out the door.'

A smirk formed on her lips as she juked to the left and Banana mimicked her movements. She grabbed the bar with her right hand and shot around in a tight arc. As she flew towards the last pipe, she shot twisted in the air to avoid a ki blast, and shot several ki blasts at Banana to keep him back.

Ichigo's smirk turned into a full-blown grin as she arced her back and reached out with her tail to slingshot around the last pipe and out the door.

Her tail grabbed the pipe and Ichigo howled in pain as thousands of volts of electricity shot through her tail and up her spine. The muscles in her tail wanted to spasm and grab tighter to the pipe, but she forced them to relax. Her momentum threw her against the far wall and she bounced rather roughly out the door of the Catacombs and flopped onto her face in the freshly fallen snow.

Someone grabbed her arm and rolled her over. The next thing she knew she was looking up at Meron and her father. "Am I allowed to say that that really hurt?" she asked feebly.

Meron laughed. "Well, she's still alive." With cotton shoved up his nose, and a stiff dried skin growth gel on his lip, he sounded strangely stuffy.

"Yes, and she even made it here in less then 12 minutes. Not a bad time for covering 3,000 km.

"Sir, King Kudamono, I am sorry to interrupt, but you have an important diplomatic message incoming sir." A young aide said as he suddenly flew up.

"Hmm, well duty calls." He said. He looked down at Ichigo, "Get your tail looked at, you took enough energy there that you could have nerve damage."

Ichigo watched as her father and the aide flew away. 'Nerve damage is the least of my worries' She thought to herself. 'Speaking of worries, here one of them comes now.' She thought as Banana walked out of the Catacombs.

The warrior sneered at her. "Is that the best you can do Princess? Pathetic. Had your father not lowered the power use of that conduit, we would be sweeping up ashes rather the worrying about you poor tender tail."

Ichigo heard several joints in Meron's hands pop. "Ignore him Princess, that conduit is at maximum capacity."

Banana snorted. "Impossible."

"No, what is impossible is the thought that you won't be put down like the slime you are if you don't stop this treasonous line of thought" Meron said threateningly.

Banana bristled. "My duty here is finished, I am returning to my normal duties now Sir."

"Very well." Meron deadpanned as Banana took to the air and flew away.

Meron looked down at Ichigo and shook his head. "Well, child, let us get you out of the cold before you freeze in it."

"I am not a child!" Ichigo scolded.

Meron just cocked an eye at her in an expression of sarcastic mirth. Had he been anyone else she probably would have beaten him to a fraction of his life for it.

--

Ichigo moped back towards her private rooms in the palace. Her examination had gone well. Other then singed fur and tender skin; her tail was no worse for wear.

'I just made myself look like a fool in front of Banana. I am sure to hear about this again. Probably for the rest of my life.' Ichigo thought as she walked up a sweeping grand staircase.

Ichigo stopped to look at the painting that hung at one of the balconied landings overlooking the Grand Hall. The woman in the painting was clearly a warrior. She wore navy armor with a white bodysuit, and a cape that was the color of fresh blood that was just starting to dry. Her long wild hair was held in place by a simple platinum coronet. Her cape was latched to a platinum and gold pendant that bore the Royal Crest and a symbol for the planet Saiya. The woman had high cheekbones and a smallish pert nose. Her navy eyes matched the color of her armor and held the look of mischief. Finally, her mouth was set in a smirking yet stoic smile. It made her look as though she was trying to look formal, yet was inwardly laughing her head off about something. A placard on the frame stated the woman's name simply: Nashi Kudamono.

Ichigo's eyes filled with tears. 'Hi, Mom. I miss you.' She thought as she wiped the tears from her eyes. 'You always knew how to cheer me up. You were always so happy. I hope you are watching us from wherever you are now. I could really use a guardian angel.'

Ichigo shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. 'Stop it. Even here you can't allow yourself to indulge in childish fantasies.' She mentally scolded herself. 'Well, a bit of reminiscing never hurt anyone.'

Ichigo didn't really know why, but talking or in this case, thinking to this painting always made her feel better. The painting was a wedding gift from her father to her mother. However, it was supposedly painted before the wedding. It was painted with her actually modeling herself illegally decked out to look like the queen that she would not be for several days. Just so that it could be shown to the people after the wedding. 'Dad always said you hated this painting. He said you were so mad at for forcing you to waste your time and get painted. Oh, Mom, I remember when this painting hung in Dad's office. He misses you even more than I do. He loved you so much.' Ichigo smiled as she looked at her mother's face. 'I remember the first time I heard Dad talk about what you are laughing about. I was 8. He was talking with several men, and he said that after the painting was done, yet before you were actually married. He said that you said that he could marry the painting if he liked it so much. He told Meron and a few others that after the wedding you wouldn't sleep in the same bed for a while. He said that you said he could get his pleasures from the painting.' Ichigo laughed to herself. 'Took me awhile to figure out why all the men laughed so hard.'

Ichigo chuckled, shook her head and looked down at herself. 'Well, you didn't keep him waiting for long, and he has had to put up with me ever since.'

Ichigo smiled and gently brushed her fingers along the frame of the painting. "I hope I am making you proud, Mom. I miss you." She finally said aloud before turning away and walking up the stairs.

Ichigo had once actually held long drawn out conversations with the painting. Momo had forced her to stop talking aloud to it. Ichigo was seen as odd enough, people didn't need to think she was insane.

Upon entering her rooms, she opened the double doors leading to her balcony and walked out onto it. From her balcony she could see almost all of Hayashi. Snow was gently falling, and it was starting to grow dark. Children played in the street far below the palace. Their laughter carried on the wind as they pummeled each other with snowballs. At the sight and sounds, Ichigo smiled and hugged herself in the wind. 'Oh to be innocent and carefree again.'

She next walked into her bathroom and took a long hot shower. Wrapping herself in a towel big enough to hide an elephant, she walked into her bedchamber flopped onto her bed, and quickly fell asleep.

--

Ichigo was awakened by Momo as the woman slammed the balcony doors shut. "Dear child, that towel may be comfortable, but if you expect it to protect you from the night's chill you will catch your death of cold!"

Ichigo made sure she was still wrapped in the towel and sat up in her bed. "Momo, every race we know of catches what every race we know of calls the cold. To my knowledge, no Saiyan has ever been made sick for more then a few hours by this illness."

"It is a saying, and you know that. Even if you wouldn't get sick the cold night would still freeze you to death if you let it." Momo said as she walked around the bed to sit near Ichigo. Momo immediately started fussing with Ichigo's hair. "How many times do I have to tell you not to sleep with your hair loose if you expect it to go back into a braid? Nashi took such good care of her hair."

Ichigo turned away from the shorthaired woman. "I stopped counting. Now would you please let me go back to sleep?" Ichigo asked petulantly.

Momo made a tsk sound and gently pulled Ichigo's head around to look at her. "You may be the Princess, but your father really needs to teach you better manners. Is that anyway to treat your only aunt?"

"Yes. Especially when you won't let me sleep!" Ichigo said sullenly.

Momo laughed. Momo was Nashi's older sister. She was a non-warrior. Actually, she was something of a healer or nurse. She couldn't use her ki to actually heal people, no one could do that, (at least to Ichigo's knowledge), but she could soothe the pain and ease the mind. She worked in the palace as Ichigo's primary tutor in all things non-martial arts or governing. She was, however, in reality Ichigo's surrogate mother. This was really all part of a game the two of them played. Momo would nag, and Ichigo would whine back.

Ichigo loved her as much as she allowed herself to love anyone. Momo was always there, even in the few moments when her father could not be.

"Well, I just came up to warn you, the palace is in an uproar. The Changelings have made some threats and people are panicking. I just thought you would want to get dressed before your father or one of his men comes up here to get you."

She looked down at her towel. "Good point," she conceded.

--

Less then five minutes later, Ichigo was in her father's private office.

"This is the message I received earlier. I thought you would like to see it." King Kudamono said as he pushed the play button. The message started and the terrible blue, purple and white face of Blizzard appeared on the screen.

"Ah, so nice to see you good King Kudamono. I am coming to visit you. I have put up with your existence long enough. And I am not going to let a stupid monkey kill me like Cold and his son Frieza did!"

'Huh? What is he talking about??'

"You see, I captured an unusual ship near the Firbald nebula. There was a pathetic green man who called himself a Namekian inside. I was going to interview him, but he seemed to know what I was. He made a ludicrous statement that a Saiyan had killed all of my kind. Unfortunately for him he stopped talking after he realized that I had no idea what he was talking about. I had to kill him. "

"I will not allow any stupid monkeys to challenge me even if your Super Saiyan is just a myth! I am coming to kill anyone with a power higher than 10,000 and enslave the rest!" Oh, please attempt to resist me! That would make it, oh, so much more fun!"

Ichigo sat there staring at the now blank screen for what seemed like forever before her father spoke. "What options do you think we have?"

Ichigo jumped. 'Why is he asking me?' "Father, I don't know. We have to fight them. There is no other way."

King Kudamono stroked his goatee. "I know, but we cannot hope to stand against a Changeling and their brute squads. You have a power level of just barely over 26,000 and you are in the top 1 percent of all Saiyans. From the Cartesians, we know that the Changelings are at least more powerful than 500,000. Even with a full moon which is impossible without a moon we would not last."

Ichigo felt her jaw drop. 'Father sounds defeated. He never gives up. What is going on?' "But we could make a stand!"

"Yes, we could, but there is something else we can do."

Ichigo couldn't think of anything at all that would help. 'Nothing can stop a Changeling when they had their mind set on destruction. Even if Blizzard was afraid of the mythical Super Saiyan, that was all it is, a myth.'

Seeing that Ichigo wasn't going to start guessing, the king spoke, "Blizzard is afraid of Super Saiyans. From the information he gave us we can be fairly certain that he was talking about the Saiyans that traveled with Cold and his sons. If one of them really is a Super Saiyan they might be able to save us all. I am going to send you through the wormhole to search out the surviving Vegeta renegades."

"WHAT!? You can't be serious! They were as bad as the Changelings are! How can they help? Besides, I have to stay and fight! We can hold them off for a little while if we try!"

"Yes, a little while, but in the end you and I and any other Saiyan with a power level higher than 10,000 will be dead. I cannot trust the followers of the Vegeta family, but I can trust that if they did kill their changeling masters, they might want to kill more of them."

"And when they're done, they will kill us and take over! How is getting one enemy to stop another any better?" Ichigo demanded.

"Because at least the other Saiyans might let us live! Do you really think Blizzard will stop before every one of us is dead? If you stayed, you would be one of the first to die. You are royalty. So I am sending you and our hope with you. Go and pack your things now. Say good-bye to Momo and any of your friends, but be quick about it. There is not much time. Hopefully, I will see you again." Her father said.

From the tone of his voice Ichigo knew that he thought that he was sending her out on a mission that he did not expect to work. She watched him for a few moments and then turned to leave. It felt wrong to leave. It was cowardly. But she couldn't argue with her father.

--

She ran up to her room and grabbed a few keepsakes and mementoes. Two sets of her formal armor and several sets of normal training clothes. She was taking one last look at her room when Momo came in carrying several books and looking quite upset.

"I've just heard. Oh, you poor dear. Being sent into the lair of the Enemy to save us from the clutches of a different foe."

Ichigo put her bags down. "Momo, I don't want to go."

Momo reached out and gave Ichigo's shoulders a squeze. "But you have to. Our hope rides with you."

"But..." Ichigo started to say, but was shushed.

"I have several documentary files, and books from the Civil war. You are to take them and learn what you can about the Vegeta Rebels."

Ichigo took the books and memory disks and put them in her bag. "I will be back, Momo. You can't fight, but I suggest hiding in the Catacombs if the Changelings start killing everyone."

Momo paused for a moment. "That is good advice, I will gather those that I can if things go from bad to worse."

"I will be back." Ichigo said as she turned towards the door. "I don't have time, but could you tell Sakura, Ume, and Ringo that I will be back. And that I will miss them."

"I know you will dear, and I will tell them. I have something else for you though. Please take this. It was your mother's. She gave it to me on her deathbed." Momo said as she gave Ichigo a simple golden ring with a dark almost black sapphire set into it.

Ichigo closed her fingers on the ring looked at Momo one last time and quickly headed for the spaceport.

Her father waited for her at the ramp of a fairly good-sized ship. He handed her a memory disk. "This is your mission briefing. I know you are not a simple warrior, but if you are to be accepted by the Vegeta rebels you will need to follow them very closely." He paused and pulled an object from a small velvet covered box. It was wrapped in felt, and Ichigo hadn't a clue what it was until he unwrapped it. "I want you to take this with you."

It was her mother's pendant. Actually it was the queen's pendant. It was ageless, it was priceless, and only the King or Queen could legally touch it. "Father, I can't. I can't take that with me. It would be wrong."

"No Ichigo. If you return, when you return, you will most likely be Queen. That is not a problem or even the reason for me giving this to you now. I am sending you away on a mission to save our people. To do that you need to remember what you are and who you fight for." He held the pendant up. "Never forget who and why you are fighting, and you will return home a savior."

Ichigo gently took the pendant and carefully wrapped it back up. She put it back into its box and added it to her luggage. After a young warrior had loaded everything into her ship, she came back out and hugged her father. "I love you, Father. I'm coming back for you."

King Kudamono said nothing but gently patted his daughter's back.

Twenty minutes later Ichigo wiped tears from her eyes as she watched the blue green world that was her home fade in the distance. 'Why do I feel like a rat abandoning a sinking ship? Why do I feel like I will never see my home again? And why do I feel so empty inside?'

--

To my fellow Americans who either do not know and therefore cannot think in International Units, or don't want to take the time, Meron is 6'11" and 325lbs, this would make Ichigo almost 5'9" and about 135 lbs. I work with so much IU, that I practically think in Metric. So since DBZ is Japanese, and they use Metric there, I thought it would be fitting to use metric.

Special thanks to Kitsune Maxwell, who has once again made this fic readable by editing it. Everyone go to kitsuneden. She has a cool Round Robin story going anyone with creativity is challenged to add to it. She also has the original version of this fic for those of you who would like to read it. Oh, and some good poetry.

Check out The Vegeta Redemption. Jimbo changed his sign in so I forget what his name is at the moment, but once search is up again just search for "The Vegeta Redemption." Good fic.

Other notes. The Mystic Cetra's fic What happened when you awoke is turning out nicely.

Well thanks all!! Please review or Email me. I want to hear your comments!


	3. The Punishment and the Plot

Chapter 3The Punishment and the Plot   
Meanwhile back on Earth. (Thursday Night)  
  
"Roshi, how could you?!?" Roshi's mother screamed. "I know strength runs in the family, but you can't go beating people up! It looks bad! And on the last day of school too! I just don't know what to do with you. That's it! When your father gets home, he is going to punish you right!"   
  
Being a full human, Roshi's mother knew better then to attempt any physical punishment, she would only hurt herself. His father on the other-hand, well, he was the current Kamesennin now that the old Master Roshi had died. He would probably make Roshi fight him in a sparing match at some absurd disadvantage. Or just make him run laps with weights on again.   
  
The last time he had gotten into trouble at school, is father had made him climb to the top of Korrin's tower fifty times non-stop while holding a half a ton of iron on his back. It was almost impossible. This time he had actually hurt someone.   
  
'Oh man am I in for it.' Roshi thought as he ran up the stairs to his room. He one of his teachers had given his class an extension on their term papers, and Roshi needed to work on his. Roshi had decided to get his studying done early as he had a sinking suspicion that he would be doing other harder things once his father got home.  
  
After a quick snack of a gallon of milk and 6 dozen cookies of course.   
  
Roshi turned on his computer and sat down at his desk. "You have two recorded messages." It informed him as soon as the screen lit up.  
  
Roshi smiled to himself when he saw that both of the messages had been left by Kit, or at least using Kit's computer. "Play messages."   
  
Mariah appeared on the screen. "Hi Roshi, I am over at Kit's and I just wanted to thank you for what you did today. I was sure Rock was going to kill you when you pushed me away from him when he had that bat." Mariah got a far away look in her eyes. "Well I just hope your parents don't ground you. You said you were picking us up to go camping tomorrow at 9 right? Well, thanks for everything. Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow." She said and the message ended.  
  
Next, Kit's message started. "Hello Mr. Hero." She said with a laugh. "You should have seen Mariah. She is so completely taken by you it isn't even funny. She was swooning." Kit raised her voice a bit so make it sound like one of the swooning women one always sees in bad movies. "Oh he risked his life to save me! He's such a hero." She finished holding her hands to her cheeks.  
  
Kit rolled her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, you did save us from Rock today, but I guess I see it differently since I know you weren't in any danger. I am impressed that you didn't accidentally kill Rock though. I just find it kind of funny how Mariah can't stop talking about you. Anyway, are we still camping tomorrow? Give me a call. Later ape!"   
  
Roshi laughed. He was the only one that was allowed to call Kit a fox, or vixen or any other animal derived name without her getting mad. She repaid him by calling him an ape. 'If that little vixen doesn't watch it she is going to give me problems.' Roshi thought.   
  
Kit's people prided themselves on their honesty. Kit had a fairly large problem with the fact that Roshi had so many secrets. But she had promised not to tell anyone, and he trusted her.   
  
Roshi was about to send a simple text e-mail reply when he heard his father yell from the entryway of the house. "Beth, I'm home!"   
  
'Crap!! I'm in for it now.' Roshi cringed.   
  
"Goshu, your son got into a fight at school today! He broke some poor kid's face!" his mother yelled back.   
  
"I know, I got a call at work from the school's superintendent about it. I think I need to give him a little lesson in Ki control. Oh Roshi! Get your tail down here!"   
  
Roshi's father was Kamesennin, and the current Master of the Budoukai, but the only thing he ever called work was the bookwork he did as a Co-VP of Capsule Corp.   
  
"Ha ha, Dad! I haven't had a tail since I was born!" Roshi replied as he came down the steps. 'Please let him laugh, I don't want to have him mad while he trains me.'   
  
Ignoring the comment Goshu continued, "Roshi, I stopped by the hospital on my way home to look at this Rock kid. If he is anything like his father I almost can't blame you for smashing his face like an over-ripe tomato, but your loss of control is not a laughing matter."   
  
"Dad, I know, Principal Fierce isn't holding me responsible, but I shouldn't have let it get that far. I made a mistake and lost my cool. It won't happen again."   
  
Goshu shook his head. "Sorry Roshi, but you are not getting out of punishment that easily."   
  
Roshi grimaced and waited to hear what his father's choice of punishment was.   
  
"Son, you need to control your ki better. You never seem to drop below around 500 times the normal human in strength. Not only are you easy to sense, but also you are almost dangerous to normal buildings and other objects. So, you need some special training. If you can learn to control your ki better, you will also be better at controlling your temper and be less likely to hurt people. Hmmm what would work?" Goshu pondered for a moment. "I know! Now we are going to play a children's game because you should have mastered this as a child." Roshi's dad replied sternly.   
  
"Aww Dad!"   
  
"Don't 'aww Dad' me. You came very close to killing that young man today. If you had not lost your temper you could have gotten your friends away from him and no one would be in the hospital. You have a responsibility not only to yourself, but also to this Rock boy to learn to control yourself so you don't ever do something similar... Or worse."   
  
Roshi just swallowed and nodded.   
  
"Now, we are going to play hide and go seek. You have 10 minutes to hide, every time I find you, I'll make my presence known. Now get!"   
  
Roshi knew better then to think he had a chance. His father was one of the most talented people when it came to tracking ki. No mater how far Roshi went or how low he got his ki, his father would find him. Roshi slowed his heart rate and breathing. He then started emptying his mind of everything that was not necessary. This is not to say that he stopped thinking, just that he focused on himself and his surroundings rather than his worries and other thoughts. He then casually walked to a hollow tree near the Son family mansion and climbed inside. No sense wasting energy when he did not have to.   
  
Little did Roshi know, but Goshu was happily eating Roshi's share of the family meal while keeping a constant sense of Roshi's location and ki.   
  
Since Roshi had successfully lowered his ki, Goshu was going to let him get the privilege of sitting in that tree until he allowed his ki to rise above that of a normal human.   
  
It only took four hours. Four hours of meditation on nothingness was all Roshi's stomach could take.   
  
GURGLE, 'Man am I hungry. I need food. Oh crap! Dad...' BOOM!!! The tree and a good portion of Roshi's shirt were no more.   
  
"You did good, Son. Now you need to practice keeping your ki down while doing normal activities."   
  
'That's easy for him to say. All he does is meditate, teach and occasionally attend a board meeting at CC. GRRRR... why does he have to be so tough on me? He wants me to be strong so he makes me practice and carry weights. Then I get strong and he wants me to hide all my power.'   
  
"You seem to be doubting what I am telling you, son. We are watched closer than most people because we are the descendents of Hercule Satan. If we are to blend in at all with normal people we must hide our true strength."   
  
'Ha! Tell me something I didn't know. Why do you think I act like a helpless geek at school?' Roshi thought. 'All thanks to Hercule being a fameaholic.' Roshi thought that it made so much sense that the weakest of those legendary people was the most famous and most mythical to all the normal people of the earth. Mr. Satan's milking of his "Strength" was like a curse placed on the whole family.   
  
"You also must realize that lowering and hiding your ki are two distinctly different things. Lowering your ki only takes relaxation and clarity of thought. Hiding your ki takes serenity of soul, mind and spirit. It is far superior because it costs you none of your strength. By hiding your ki you can also surprise your foes. You broadcast your strength before you spar and it will always be a weakness."   
  
"If you want proof you may spar with me now."   
  
"Umm, I thought you wanted me to just lower my ki so I didn't hurt people. Why are you now talking about keeping my strength while hiding my ki?"   
  
Goshu laughed. "First, you tell me how this fight of yours started."   
  
"Um... well, ah there's this girl, Mariah, at school who is kind of a book worm, but is really nice and all. Well, Rock hates her 'cause she is one of my friends and is poor. So he threw a soccer ball at her and knocked her over. When she fell, she dropped all her books and Rock started making fun of her. Mariah is one of Kit's friends and Kit tried to defend her, but that only caused Rock to get worse and he was calling Kit a dog and stuff. So I ah, well, told him to stop. He asked what I was going to do to stop him. He said it was not like I could beat him in a fight and he hit me. I took the punch to the face and ignored him. When he started ripping up some of Mariah's mother's art work, I got mad and after avoiding a bat, I well, ah hit back."   
  
"Ha! I thought as much. Let me tell you a story about what happened to me while I was dating your mother."   
  
Roshi's father then told him about how when he was dating Beth, she had had run a red light and hit a guy with her car. Since she had wrecked his sports car he was mad and started stalking her to "get even."  
  
Well, one night he was outside her apartment waiting for her to come out when Goshu had arrived to take her to a movie. The man had confronted Goshu and tried to hit him. Roshi's father had hurt the guy so badly that he spent two months in the hospital.   
  
"That you only broke his nose, a finger bone, and two of his teeth shows that you already have quite good control of your ki when dealing with those who are much weaker than you son." Goshu continued. "But you have never really worked on controlling your ki during a battle. Since I am supposed to be punishing you, I decided to make you learn what is truly an important ability. Sense goes hand in hand with how well you are attuned to your surroundings. You cannot attune to your surroundings without being calm in the spirit. Therefore, if you can learn to be at near full strength without projecting that strength to the world, you will also be able to feel and then determine what your opponent is attempting to do.  
  
"To prove this to you, we will fight now." Goshu said as he flew away from the house.   
  
"Aww, come on, Dad."   
  
At that Roshi's father turned and shot a weak Kamehameha at him while directing him away from the house.  
  
"Ok, Dad, I'll play your game." Roshi then flew to the nearest cover and tried to hide his ki. He quickly realized two things. One, that it was very hard to hide his Ki when he was excited about a fight and secondly, that it was much easier to detect his father when he attempted to focused his mind as his father has said. Not that sensing out Goshu helped much, he was usually about to attack before Roshi could detect him.  
  
"Masenko!"   
  
The shout from behind was all the warning Roshi got this time. He jumped out of the way at the last moment and fired off a few weak blasts at the general direction that he thought that his father was at.  
  
"Wrong way," his father said as he kicked Roshi in the small of the back. "If you are not going to try to hide your ki I am just going to have to lower it for you." He said as another kick sent Roshi into a pile of rocks.  
  
Roshi caught his balance and used the rocks to kick-off and fly in a different direction. He just couldn't get a solid lock on his father's position. If it had been daytime, that would have been one thing, but no! it was the middle of the night. Not only that, but it was cloudy and he couldn't see a thing. 'Man,' he thought, 'if only I could get a better sense of where Dad's ki is.'  
  
Most of the time when he fought Tee, or Boxers, they fought at full power. It was easy to spot them. But his father just was too fast and too hard to sense. Of course, Father was the Kamesennin. Roshi had never seen his father at full power, but some of the other relatives had said that he had been in the upper sixty thousand range a few years back when they had all trained in the Gravity room at Capsule Corp.  
  
"Auugh." A blow to the gut interrupted his thoughts. Almost by reflex he sent a ki blast out that nailed Goshu in the back. SLAP, Goshu spun and smacked Roshi in the side. Roshi pin wheeled through the air, and landed in a defensive stance.   
  
The next thing he knew, his feet had been swept from under him. He used his hands to push off and caught a glimpse of movement to his left. With a bit of intuition he blocked to the right and caught his father's punch. They quickly exchanged a series of kicks, punches and blocks. Then they landed and stared at each other through the night.  
  
"Ka-Me-Haa-Me-Ha!" both of them yelled at the same time. The beams hit and a ball of energy grew in the center.  
  
Roshi decided to put more into it to show his father just how strong he had gotten. It would have worked. Unfortunately, he had focused on the Kamehameha, not his father. Goshu had slipped off his beam and was rapidly flying towards Roshi.  
  
WHAM!! Roshi went flying into the ground. He quickly leapt back out of the hole he had made and was about to attack when his father signaled the end of the exercise.   
  
"Do you understand the importance of what I have been saying tonight?"   
  
"Yeah I think so." Roshi responded as he wiped some blood off of his face.   
  
'Ouch, that hurt', he thought. 'I need to work on my focus or you will always be able to beat the crap out of me regardless of how strong or weak I am.'  
  
"Roshi, you have come far in your training. Your strength and speed are impressive, but your senses have been ignored. When you could sense an attack coming you blocked and counter attacked well, but you could not always detect the attack. Could you? You need to focus your mind as well as your body to become a truly good martial artist. Hmm, you are done with school for the year, correct?"  
  
"Yes, well, not exactly. I have a term paper that is due by 10 am. Then the summer break officially starts Saturday."  
  
"Good, you need to take your mind off of books and any cute bookwormish girls and work on focusing your ki control. I leave for Namek in the morning for a long overdue trip and cannot take you along. But, I think I can trust that you will repeat this exercise every night until you learn more focus."  
  
"Um, Dad, remember I was planning on taking a bunch of my friends out camping by Mt. Frypan this weekend. Can my punishment start after I get back?"  
  
Goshu thought for a bit. "Is this Mariah one of the friends you are taking camping?"  
  
Roshi blushed. "Yes, and so is Kit, and Carge, and Niko."  
  
"Hmm, Kit is that Vulpine girl who comes around here every once in a while, right?"  
  
"Yes."   
  
"Hmmm, well she should be able to keep you from doing anything stupid."   
  
"Dad!"   
  
Goshu laughed, "Yes. On one condition though, when I get back, I expect you to be able to control your ki well enough to hide in the middle of Satan City without letting me find you. If you can't then the rest of your summer will be spent working very very hard under my supervision."  
  
"Yes, Father." 'Man! This is totally uncalled for. Dad is the only one who I will ever have this disadvantage from, anyway. It is not like I'll ever actually fight anyone where I will have to sense him or her out rather then see them. I mean even if it will give me an advantage, it is a lot of work. I bet he just wants more food in the evenings. I am soo hungry I could eat a horse! At least he will be gone until early July, that give me some time to learn. Wait! If he is going to Namek, how will I repeat the exercise? He is the one who is truly good at sensing ki.'  
  
"Ah, how am I supposed to train without you?"  
  
"I don't know, possibly you could get your cousins to help. Most of them could use this training as well. Or maybe that Kit girl, didn't you teach her how to sense ki?"   
  
"Yes, but she can't do it well, and she is totally helpless when it comes to even attempting anything else." Roshi commented.  
  
"Ok, well it was an idea. Oh, or you could get Slip to use that scouter you two are so fond of."  
  
"Yeah, the scouter." WONDERFUL, now I actually HAVE to do the training. Well, at least when Dad is gone, I can get some food.  
  
"Now, I am willing to bet you are hungry, I could hear your stomach from about a mile off when you were attempting to hide."   
  
"Yeah, how do I keep that from giving me away?"  
  
Goshu looked over at Roshi with just a little sinister twinkle in his eye. Then he smiled like he had just been told the best joke ever. "That's easy! You just eat a large meal before you fight!"  
  
"Gee... thanks... Dad, that helps."  
  
Goshu turned around and looked at Roshi, "Oh, and you will Hand write an apology and Personally give it to the boy who's nose you broke today."  
  
Roshi was about to complain, but the look on his father's face stopped him. "Yes Sir."   
* * *   
  
Roshi woke early to see his father off. Roshi's father was riding along with Slip's parents, and since they were going on Vacation, the route they were taking would take ten days to get to Namek and then they would not return for a month.  
  
Roshi was determined to impress his father with his ki control when Goshu returned. He decided that his cousin Slip would be the best choice, as she usually would do anything to get away from actual work and the Labs at the Capsule Corp. His training would have to wait for Sunday, however, as he was going camping. Carge, Niko, Kit and Mariah were already waiting in the park in front of Orange Star High when he flew up on the Kintoun at 9:00 am.  
  
"About time you got here!" Carge yelled. "Heck, I've been waiting here a good twenty seconds!"   
  
"Sorry I'm late, guys. I ran into a gaggle of geese and they didn't like me." Roshi said as he pulled a feather off of the Kintoun. 'And I had to deliver that letter to Rock. His father is just as arrogant as he is.'  
  
"You didn't get hurt did you?" Mariah asked sounding worried.  
  
Roshi chuckled, "No, but the collision broke it's wing and killed it, so I stopped to pick it up. It's in one of my coolers. I figured we could eat it for lunch or something."  
  
Niko and Mariah didn't look like they were totally for that idea, but they didn't say anything.  
  
"Do you know how to cook a goose?" Carge asked. "I mean, I can't see you doing anything but getting hurt in the kitchen."  
  
Roshi just rolled his eyes and headed into the school. 'Um, yeah, let me think, does a pig like mud? Yes I can cook a goose.' "Yes, I can cook the goose. Anyway, I need to hand this in, and I will be right back," He said waving his term paper. "Oh wait," he said as he dug in his pocket. "Here is the plane, you guys can open the capsule in the parking lot and get your bags and stuff in it." He said as he tossed Kit the capsule.   
  
As he walked away he heard Carge comment, "nobody said Roshi was going to fly us there. He hit a goose with his cloud, you trust him to fly a jet?"  
  
Kit shook her head while she clicked the capsule and threw it into the middle of the parking lot.  
  
Boom! A big fat thing that looked like a yellow minivan with wings appeared in the parking lot.  
  
Kit turned back to the other three. "Carge, I don't think you will have to worry much. By the looks of things, I can run faster then this thing flies."  
  
"I cannot believe Roshi is flying this hunk of junk." Carge said in awe. "It looks ancient."  
  
Mariah walked over carrying her cooler and a duffle bag. She opened the big side door and looked in. "It is ancient. Look at the little calendar there on the dashboard. And when was the last time you saw anything with big fuzzy pink dice hanging in it?"  
  
The calendar read September of 786. It was now June of 1291.   
  
"Are you guys done drooling on my collector's edition flying brick?" Roshi said as he walked up.  
  
"This thing actually flies?" Niko asked.  
  
"Who cares if it flies, this thing should be in a museum." Carge kidded. "With all that money you have, can't you afford a newer vehicle?"   
  
"Carge, behave yourself!" Niko chided. "Money isn't everything, you know!"   
Carge glanced over at Mariah who was busy claiming the front passenger seat. "Oh, come on, I didn't mean it like that, you guys. I just expected Roshi to have something faster not... not the.."  
  
"Flying brick?" Roshi chimed in.  
  
"Exactly!"   
  
Mariah turned around in her seat. "Oh, Please! You guys are really pathetic you know?" She laughed. "Just because I don't own half the planet like Roshi here does, doesn't mean I get offended by every little thing that I don't have. I was actually thinking the same thing. Why isn't this in a museum?"   
  
Roshi climbed in at the driver's seat and looked around at them all. He poked the fuzzy dice and laughed. "Oh come on! Fuzzy dice, room for eight, an infinity engine, and a backbench seat that reclines into a bed. This here's my pimpmobile."  
  
"Ha! You had better watch out, Mariah. Roshi's going to start putting the moves on ya." Carge teased from the back. They all burst out laughing imagining Roshi "putting the moves" on someone.  
  
"I was only joking guys, sheesh!" Roshi said trying to move the conversation away from where it was.  
  
Mariah, who was looking over some maps that had been sticking out of the glove box, looked offended. "What? Aren't I good enough to be putting the moves on? And here I thought you liked me."  
  
"No, I mean, Yes, I mean, I didn't mean it that way! I was only making fun of my clunker of a plane!" Roshi said trying to fix his blunder.   
  
"I think I speak for all the women present when I say a nice red sports car would work a lot better then an ugly yellow brick." Kit said as she patted Roshi's shoulder from where she was sitting behind him.  
  
"Not to mention, I would like riding in one of those better too." Carge added. "So, ah where are we camping? You never really told us."  
  
"Oh yeah, sorry, we will be camping in the foothills of scenic and historic Mt. Frypan." Roshi said trying to sound like a cheesy tour guide.  
  
Mariah dropped her maps. "Mt. Frypan?" She asked, shocked.  
  
Roshi turned to look at her, "Yeah, why?"  
  
"Didn't some crazy king use to live there? I mean there are children's stories about this huge giant who ate people and Mt. Frypan is always stated as his home."  
  
"Mariah, that's just a children's story. Children's stories aren't true! You know better then that!" Niko laughed from the back.  
  
Roshi had forgotten about those children's stories. He clenched his teeth for a moment. "Actually, Niko, that story was based on a real person, the Ox King."  
  
"What? There really was a giant who ate people and terrorized the people?" Mariah asked meekly.   
  
Roshi laughed. "I hope the stories about him eating people are false, but he did cause quite a problem, I am told, after his mountain caught on fire."  
  
"So, why are we camping there? I mean, wouldn't there be better places to camp then by a burning mountain with a possibly deadly monster?" Carge asked from the back.  
  
Roshi actually burst out laughing. "Ok, just because the story says that his mountain will burn forever doesn't mean that it still is. Mt. Frypan was destroyed over 500 years ago. It is just a big pile of rocks and stones now. Besides, the Ox King is dead now, he was just a normal man, not some mythical monster."   
  
"How do you know?" Niko prodded.   
  
Kit kicked the back of Roshi's chair as she struggled to keep from laughing her head of. "Oh please! I can't help it. You guys are talking about one of Roshi's ancestors here. Oh this is funny!"  
  
"What?" Mariah, Carge, and Niko asked as one.  
  
"Ok, you know Son Pan was Mr. Satan's Granddaughter? Right? Ok, the Ox King was her Great Grandfather on the Son side of the family."  
  
"Oh," Mariah managed to say.  
  
"So, what side of the family do you take after Roshi, the heroic side of the nasty terrorizing side?" Carge asked laughing.  
  
"I would say he takes after the heroic side." Mariah said from her seat as she turned around to glare at Carge.  
  
Everyone had a good laugh and soon moved on to other conversation. Before long, they had landed near a wooded lake next to a large pile of rubble.  
  
As they grabbed their stuff from the brick, Roshi noticed Mariah grab a big red cooler. "Hey Mariah, what is that? I told you guys all you needed to bring was your clothes and swimsuits."  
  
Mariah set the cooler down and looked Roshi right in the eyes. "I didn't think it would be right for you to have to bring everything. So I brought a cooler of soda pop."   
  
Roshi let out a long slow breath. Arguing with Mariah was futility at it's best. "You know you didn't have to do that."   
  
"Yes, I did."   
  
"Fine, then at least let me carry it over into that shady clearing there." Roshi said as he pointed to where he wanted to set up the camp.   
  
Once he had lead them to the campsite he looked around and smiled. "Ok people, welcome to your home for the next two days. Here we have a nice fire pit with a rotisserie spike, and over up that path there is an outhouse and shower." Roshi said pointing to each thing in turn, "Then we have a nice big lake that is stocked with tons of nice fish. The beach is also nice for swimming."  
  
Roshi called the Kintoun and pulled several capsules from it. "Ok, we have tents and sleeping bags here." Looking over at Niko and Carge, he continued. "One tent is for the guys, and one is for the ladies."  
  
"Tents? What fun is that? And what happened to the five room Capsule house you had in the Kintoun yesterday?" Carge demanded.  
  
"Guys, what fun is camping if you don't rough it a little? The capsule house is for if there is a storm or something. But if we don't need it, I don't want to use the thing."   
  
Kit realized something. "Um, Roshi, just how much roughing it are we going to do? I mean you did bring food right."   
  
Roshi shrugged. "I have a cooler with some fresh steak, and then some milk and cheese. Oh, and now the goose. But other then that, I thought we would eat the strawberries, raspberries, and fish, and possibly I would go catch a dinosaur for some nice tail steak."  
  
Mariah looked like she was going to be sick. "You didn't bring food?"   
  
Roshi walked over and patted her on the back. "No, this is supposed to be fun, don't worry about it. We will have plenty to eat."   
  
"Hey, let's get off the subject of food before Roshi starts drooling. If he thinks he can find enough food then I guess he can. I mean we've all seen how much the guy can eat." Carge said. "So, what was this about a ski boat and skiing?"   
  
'No kidding Roshi eats a lot.' Kit thought to herself. 'I just wonder if he can actually cook.'   
* * *   
  
It took the teens hardly anytime at all to set up camp.  
  
"Ok, people, if you want to go swimming, or skiing, there is a bathhouse just up the hill. Last one in the lake is a rotten egg!" Roshi yelled as he casually started walking up the hill holding his bright blue swim trunks.  
  
Mariah and Niko soon ran past him carrying towels and various other objects. 'It sure does take girls a lot of stuff just to get ready to swim.' Roshi thought as he saw Niko had at least six different kinds of tanning lotion sticking out of the top of her bag.  
  
Roshi quickly changed and casually walked down the hill to the tents. He could hear the two girls were still on their side of the bathhouse, so he wasn't in any hurry. He grabbed his towel from the bench where he had left it, and continued on his way.  
  
"Not going swimming?" He asked Kit knowing full well that she hated the water.  
  
"Nope, and don't even try to get me to. I'll be fine soaking up the sun. Been a while since I had a nice nap in the sun." Kit said as she reclined in one of the chairs Roshi had set out.  
  
"Kit, I hate to ask, but what is the point? It is not as if you will tan, you are covered in fur. Not only that, but you have that ridiculous white thing on now."  
  
Kit grimaced and sat up. "This ridiculous white thing is called a Furzete and it is the only garment I have that is actually from Vulpe. Since I knew you people would try to get me into the water I thought wearing something that was priceless and extremely important to me would keep you from trying anything stupid."  
  
As far as Roshi could tell, the Furzete was made out a material that seemed to have the weight of cotton, but the appearance of silk. It was really a robe of sorts. Kind of like a cross between a kimono, and the outfits that one would see on fictional genies and such. The sleeves were huge and ran down hiding her hands. A tight inner cuff blocked wind and allowed her to raise her arm without her sleeves sliding down. Strips of fabric ran loosely from the top of her shoulders down and crossed over her chest and before wrapping around her back to form a hood. The strips formed a deep v neckline that would have been quite revealing had there not been a gray turtleneck vest under it. The vest, however, was exactly the same color of gray as Kit's fur. While Roshi saw it immediately, most people would have to look at least twice before they realized that it was there. White cloth hung down from the cross pieces to the waist were they were tied with a large red sash. The sash held up a white knee length skirt that was slashed up to the hip on the left side. Beneath the skirt were loose fitting cuffed pants that seemed to match the blouse.  
  
It looked extremely comfortable, but also really warm. "Isn't it a bit warm for that?" Roshi asked innocently.   
  
"Actually, it is really cool. So, no." Kit replied before stretching out and rolling over onto her side.  
  
Roshi took that as the sign to leave, and the other two girls were coming down the hill anyway. Roshi looked up the hill, and his jaw almost hit the ground.  
  
Mariah was wearing a simple light blue one-piece suit. Thin and petite, at times she almost looked like one of those porcelain dolls. Her light brown hair blew in the wind, and when she saw Roshi watching, she blushed and smiled, her pale complexion causing the blush to stand out even more then her dimples. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The modest suit still hung like a second skin and left plenty for the eye and the imagination. Roshi thought she looked like an angel.  
  
Then he saw Niko. Niko was a cheerleader. Niko was stacked. Niko was wearing the smallest thong bikini Roshi had ever seen. It left almost everything for the eye, and almost nothing for the imagination.  
  
"Roshi, you're red in the face." The curly haired blonde laughed as she walked by arching her back even more.  
  
Mariah laughed. "Niko said she wanted to give Carge something to remember. Judging by your face, I would guess she succeeded."  
  
"Ah huh." Was all Roshi could manage.   
  
Before long Roshi, Mariah, Niko, and Carge were out in the boat having a blast. Mariah absolutely could not ski. She couldn't see well enough with out her glasses, and didn't have the coordination or balance to stay on the skis when she did get up.  
  
Niko and Carge on the other had were good enough that Roshi got out another tow line and let them both ski at the same time. For some reason, Carge kept getting distracted though.  
  
After an hour or so, they docked the boat and started a nice campfire. Roshi managed to sneak away and catch two large fish without anyone seeing him catch them.   
  
"Hey, don't eat all the smores now. Those are for tonight under the stars. You people really don't know anything about camping." Roshi said as he carried one of the huge fish into the campsite. He had decided the sight of him lugging one of the fish would be enough of a shock. He didn't need to pull both in and truly give away his strength.   
  
"Oh, Dende! How on Earth did you catch that fish?" Carge said in awe as he dropped his smore.   
  
Roshi shrugged. "This? There are fish this big all over in that lake."   
"WHAT?!" Mariah gasped. "That thing looks big enough to eat me. Isn't it dangerous to ski in a lake with fish that big?"  
  
Roshi plopped the fish down and pulled out Gohan's sword so he could de-scale it. "Nah, these fish only eat other fish. Besides, they are afraid of boats, so they would never attack us while we are skiing." Roshi looked up to see everyone but Kit gawking at him.  
  
"AHHH cool! Where'd you get the sword from?" Niko asked as she moved in to get a better look at the sword.   
  
Roshi realized that all of them were waiting for a story, but he was hungry, and food came first. "Ok, look, I'll tell you guys anything you want to know, after we eat. I need to take this thing up near the bathhouse to clean it cause if I do it here, there will be more flies around our campsite then we will know what to do with."   
  
The four of them nodded. So Roshi continued. "Anyway, there is another fish down by that bay over there, if you guys want to bring it up to the bathhouse, we can clean it as well."   
  
Hindsight being what it is, Roshi belatedly realized that he should have just let them keep eating smores until he had all the fish cleaned. None of them knew the slightest thing about cleaning fish, and a 140kg fish was a big fish for three non-Saiyans to try to drag up a hill.  
  
Since Kit hadn't changed out of her Furzete, she didn't even follow Mariah, Carge, and Niko down the hill, but rather followed Roshi up to the bathhouse. "You know they will never get that fish up the hill without your help." She said simply as she walked past Roshi.   
  
Roshi plopped the fish down on the stainless steel table designed for cleaning fish and other game, and turned to Kit. "Good point. Here, you can try to clean the fish, and I'll get the next one." He said trying to hand over Gohan's sword.  
  
Kit took three steps backward. "In this outfit? You have got to be kidding."  
  
Roshi frowned. "Kit, please take this the right way. We are camping. You shouldn't have even brought that outfit. If you can't dress for camping, then I won't feel sorry for you when you get dirty. Now go change into something appropriate for camping, or I may just throw you in the lake while you are wearing that."  
  
Kit tensed up. "You wouldn't"   
  
"Don't bet on it" Roshi replied over his back as he ran back down the hill.  
  
Luckily for him, he got to his other fish before Mariah, Carge, and Niko did. "Never mind guys, I'll get this, you three can just go pester Kit until she decides to join us in having fun."  
  
Having the three of them pester Kit allowed Roshi to clean and prepare the fish in peace. Which, to be honest, is more then he had expected. Deciding that the two fish were not quite enough, Roshi cooked the goose as well.  
  
Soon the three of them returned with Kit in tow. Kit was now dressed in a loose pair of mesh shorts, and a tee shirt.  
  
"You happy now?" Kit asked as she sat down.  
  
"Yeah, you four finally got your butts over here so we can eat. The fish are done and they smell really good." Roshi said as he pulled one of the fish away from the fire.  
  
Mariah looked over the fish. "Um, Roshi, I know you eat a bit more then most of us, but don't you think that is a lot of food for five people?"  
  
'No, if I would actually eat until I was full, these two fish would barely be enough for me, let alone the four of you,' Roshi thought as he smiled. "There is less here then you think. It should make a good meal."  
  
"Who cares if there is some leftovers, this is a camping trip. We are here to have fun!" Carge said as he grabbed a paper plate and some plastic utensils and dug into the fish.  
  
Carge's action ended the discussion as the rest of them were soon pigging out.   
"Wow, Roshi, this is really good. I was worried for a bit, but you can actually cook." Mariah said between bites.  
  
Roshi laughed. "This is campfire grilling. It isn't cooking. In the kitchen I could probably convince water to burn."  
  
"Yeah, well it's better then I can do. My idea of a good home-cooked meal is heating up a can of soup." Mariah laughed.  
  
Roshi looked at her incredulously. 'Please tell me that that was a joke.'  
  
"Roshi's just embarrassed that he can cook. It's ok, you're a mamma's boy Roshi." Carge said before Roshi could ask Mariah anything more.   
  
"Don't tease him, Carge! I think it sweet that he can cook." Niko laughed.  
  
"We could probably make fun of Roshi here all day, but what are we doing after lunch? Or does our fearless Cook have nothing planned?" Kit asked getting in one last barb.   
  
"He still needs to tell us where he got that sword. It doesn't look like any I have ever seen before." Carge said with his mouth full.   
  
"Well, I want to see more of this beautiful camp he has here. It is a shame the public never gets to see stuff like that." Mariah said as she pointed up at several swans as they landed on the lake.   
  
"Yeah," Kit spoke up, "I walked a ways up those trails past that bluff over there, and around the rubble from the old mountain. We should walk some of them and enjoy the scenery."   
  
Roshi interrupted before they could say anymore. "That sounds like a great idea to me. We should rest a bit, and then in an hour or so, everyone be dressed for some hiking. Actually, I think I'll take you up to Videl's Lookout, so keep your suits on, but put something over them for the hike."   
  
"Ohhh, what's at Videl's Lookout?" Mariah asked.   
  
"You'll see when you get there." Roshi said with a laugh before heading over to where a hammock hung between two trees.   
* * *  
  
An hour later Roshi met everyone at the tents. "Ok, everyone, ready to go?"   
After hearing affirmative replies out of everyone, they set off.   
  
"Ok, I guess I might as well tell you about the camp." Roshi said as they walked up past the bathhouse and onto the first trail. "As you can see from that visitor's sign and the parking lot, it is actually a free public access campground and park. The reason no one is here is because it is so far from civilization people don't come out here."   
  
"Who cares about the camp, I wanna hear about that nifty sword of yours." Carge muttered invoking an elbow to the side from Niko.  
  
Roshi looked over his back and laughed. "Actually, Gohan, Videl's Gohan, was the one who had this camp built after he married Videl. The sword was also his. It was given to him by Piccolo, his first master."  
  
"Ahh that's so romantic. You said we were going up to Videl's lookout. I bet he built it for her didn't he?" Mariah asked.  
  
"Yeah, actually he did. It was smaller then. But then, his and Videl's grandson, Gohan the 3rd, expanded it and turned it into a retreat from Capsule Corp for his wife Chemise."  
  
"Neat," Mariah said.  
  
"Well, you had better get rich quick Mariah. Sounds like the Son's marry for money and then use their wife's cash to build them parks and stuff." Carge joked from the side.  
  
Niko jabbed him in the ribs. "That wasn't very nice!"  
  
Roshi just laughed. "Actually there are a lot of people who claim my family just married into the money, and in a way, they are right. But in reality as I said, this land was all owned by Gohan's Grandfather. While the Satan family was definitely more famous and probably had more spending cash, if you counted the value of the land, Gohan was probably more wealthy then Videl was."  
  
"Yeah, but you can't claim that most of your families money doesn't come from Capsule Corp." Kit interjected.   
  
"Well it does, but then again, even before Chemise married Gohan the third, the Son family was helping run Capsule Corp. Now we just own it too."  
  
"I thought the Briefs family still ran and owned the Capsule Corp. I thought you were just related to them and got like kickbacks or something." Niko said, "and how do you tell who is who. Are you talking about two Gohan's or three? Cause you say Videl's Gohan, and then Gohan the third, but no Gohan the second and... Oh! Now I'm confused."  
  
Roshi slowly took a deep breath and then shook his head. "If you went just by paternal sir name, then there technically has not been a Briefs as the president of the CC since the first Bulma's son Trunks."  
  
"First Bulma?" Mariah asked.  
  
Roshi quickly turned to look back. "I'll get to that in a bit. Anyway, when Chemise who was Trunks daughter, married Gohan the third who was Pan and Ubuu's son, she took the name Son Briefs. My direct lineal ancestor is Goku Jr. who took the name Son only. His sister, Bulma Jr. took over as President of the Capsule Corp and kept the name Son Briefs. The family has handed that name down every generation regardless of what the father's sir name is. For example, my cousin, Slip's mother is Teddy Son Briefs, her father is Frank Smith. Even though her parents are legally married, she goes by the name Slip Son Briefs."  
  
"So what you're saying is that you are related, but directly, so since it is a private Corporation, you also own part of it too." Mariah said.  
  
"Yeah, funny thing is, my side of the family actually owns more of it then Slip's even though her mother is the President, and my father is only a Co-VP." Roshi said with a chuckle.  
  
"How so, and if my memory serves, didn't Trunks have a sister, and two daughters? What happened to that side of the Briefs family?" Kit said knowingly.   
Roshi stifled a snort. He wouldn't be surprised if Kit knew more about the published history of his family then he did. Since her people's home planet was more or less uninhabitable now, she thought that history and knowing ones history was extremely important. Since Roshi's Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather Yohan had been one of the primary people to help rescue the survivors of Vulpe, Kit thought Roshi's family history was important to know. Especially after she found out he was part Saiyan.  
  
"Well, Mariah was right to say that it was family owned. Suffice to say that my side of the family has multiplied the least. Whereas, Slip's side of the family has a lot of more directly related cousins. And to answer the second part of Kit's question, Bra was Vegeta and Bulma's daughter, and Trunks sister, but she never married, and had no children. Trunks did have two daughters, Chemise, and Bikini. Bikini was a skilled martial artist, but she wanted nothing to do with CC. Both Tee, and Boxers are descendents of her. That side of the family also owns, and works with and for CC, but in all actuality with the exception of Tee's father who is the other VP, that side of the Briefs family has little to do with the CC." Roshi explained.  
  
"Ok, I guess that makes sense." Mariah said.  
  
"No it doesn't, I'm still stuck on the Gohan's" Niko whined.  
  
Kit couldn't help it, and she burst out laughing. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you really, but if you expect Roshi to explain the fact that there have been like eight Gohan's and fifteen Boxers, and I think five Bulma's and many other repeating names in the past five hundred years, we are going to be listening to him ramble about his family forever. I know they are rich and powerful and all, but his family's history is about as dry as week old bread if you know what I mean."  
  
"Exactly, thank you for pointing that out, Kit." Roshi said quickly, "My family likes to repeat names. I hate it. Which is why when I have kids I am going to name them something really odd like Tom, or Ben, or Amy, or Jill. You know, names that no one has. Just so they will be different."  
  
The four of them had a good laugh and moved on to other points of conversation.   
* * *   
  
It was a good 17 km hike up to Videl's Lookout, and after about an hour the girls were complaining about being tired. Roshi solved that problem by calling the Kintoun and having them float behind him.  
  
"Hey, that's not fair. Why can't I ride that thing? I just pass right though it." Carge complained after a bit.  
  
Roshi laughed to himself. 'Well if you stopped gawking at Niko's chest like it was the best thing before or after sliced bread I bet you would be able to ride it. But I am not about to tell you that,' Roshi rolled his eyes. "I couldn't tell you. It just doesn't like you."  
  
"Ha ha... That is so funny. By the way, how is it that you can set a pace like this? I mean, even Kit was getting winded, and she runs marathons for fun!"  
  
'Hmm, I have been going a bit fast.' Roshi realized. "I don't know. I think being out in the woods is invigorating. Besides, we are here." Roshi said.  
  
The path up to Videl's Lookout followed a small bubbling mountain stream. They had stopped to look at small pools and waterfalls the entire way up the Mountain, but that was nothing compared to what they saw now. Roshi lead them into a small cave that the stream flowed out of. The cave was actually a tunnel through a rock spire and it opened onto a large grassy bluff. The bluff overlooked the ruins of Mt. Frypan and the lake. Near the entrance to the cave, a small 8-meter waterfall fell down into a pool that fed the stream and flowed out through the cave.  
  
"Wow! This is incredible!" Mariah said in awe as she looked out over the edge of the bluff.  
  
"Yeah, this was one of Videl's favorite spots. Her and Gohan supposedly spent hours up here. And I can't blame them. Follow me." Roshi said as he walked to a staircase that was carved into the side of the Mountain.  
  
It lead to the top of the waterfall and a crystal clear mountain pool that was about 15 meters across. It in turn was fed by a small waterfall that fell half a meter from a steaming 5-meter wide pool. A separate even smaller pool, which was fed by a mountain stream also overflowed into the large pool.  
  
"What we have here ladies and, well, Carge, is a natural hot spring fed pool, and an ice cold glacier fed pool mixing in a natural swimming pool. The water in the hot pool is very warm so be slow if you get into it. Once you get all nice and toasty, the trick is to jump in the nearly freezing glacier pool and then the big pool."  
  
Roshi looked at all of them. Even Kit stood there gawking with her mouth hanging open.  
  
"Ok then." Roshi said as he kicked his shoes off and took his loose tee shirt off so that he could climb into the natural hot tub. As he had just driven the boat earlier, this was the fist time he had taken his shirt off all day.   
  
"Holy crap! Roshi you have pecks, and abs! How the heck did you get such a bod?" Niko asked as she swooned over the shirtless Roshi.   
  
"Um, I work out." Roshi said turning crimson as he lowered himself into the hot pool a bit faster then he would have liked.   
  
"YOWCH!" Maria yelled as she stuck her foot into the pool and yanked it right back out. "Roshi! How can you sit in that? That water is hot enough to cook you!"   
  
"Nah, just lower yourself into it slowly. It feels really good." Roshi said as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back.  
  
Mariah smiled when she saw Niko had already forgotten about Roshi's shirtless bod and was teasing Carge about something. Luckily for her, Roshi didn't notice.   
"Hey, Kit, you coming in?" Maria asked after she sat down in the pool and innocently scooted towards Roshi.  
  
"No, Do you have any idea how long it takes me to get dry again?" I'm going to let you guys enjoy yourselves while I go follow this stream up to the snow. I want to see some snow again."   
  
Mariah was about try to snuggle closer to Roshi when she realized that he had fallen fast asleep.  
  
"Just my luck" she muttered to herself.   
* * *   
  
That evening Roshi cooked the steaks that he had brought from home.  
  
"Kit, you should have really tried the pools up there. That was so much fun!" Mariah said laughing to herself about something.  
  
Roshi coughed under his breath. "What part? The attempting to drown me part, or the part where the three of you threw me into the cold pool while I was sleeping?"   
  
Mariah grinned mischievously, "Ummm both?" She looked at the other two, "Yeah, both."   
  
"Thanks, anyway, how do you want your steak? Rare to Burnt cinders I will try to cook them how you like them.  
  
Everyone but Kit wanted his or her steak cooked medium-well. Kit on the other hand wanted hers to be almost rare.  
  
"Eww, how can you eat that?" Niko asked looking at Kit's steak.  
  
"How can you eat that?" Kit pointed back to Niko's plate.  
  
"Hey, at least she isn't eating it raw." Carge said trying to get Niko to leave Kit alone.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Kit asked sounding insulted.  
  
"Well, you know, you're well Vulpine and well I just thought that..."  
  
"No, you didn't think. I personally like my steak this way. Look at Roshi's steak, his is barely cooked any longer then mine. It has absolutely nothing to do with my being a Vulpine. My father likes his meat cooked to the point were it is practically burnt offerings! I just like eating it this way, ok?" Kit said before throwing her plate down and walking away.  
  
Carge got up to follow her into the darkness. "I didn't mean..." He said sounding genuinely confused.  
  
Mariah stood up. "We know. Something is bothering her. Kit's been a bit jumpy today. I'll go see if I can figure out what's up."  
  
Roshi frowned. He had really hopped that this weekend could be fun for everyone before they all started the various things they were doing this summer. It didn't look like his plans were working out too well.   
* * *  
  
Kit's outburst more or less ended the evening, and everyone soon went to bed. Roshi didn't want anyone (namely Carge) sneaking out during the night, so he slept by the door of the tent.  
  
As usual, he woke early before 6 am, and got up to do his morning katas and a few other various training routines. Seeing as no one else was awake, he flew up to a spot were a Budoukai sized flat clearing had been made specifically for this purpose.  
  
Roshi started with slow Tai-chi-chuan movements and added a few coordination and balance toning moves from pentjak-silat. Once he was warmed up, he moved from normal ordinary martial arts to the forms of Kamedo, Kamido, and the few moves of Kaido that he knew. As he moved faster, he knew that he was now moving so fast that to a normal human, he would appear to be nothing but a blur of blue and orange moving in a slow circle over the grass. Moving himself into a quick set of snap kicks and then a back flip, Roshi pirouetted in the air and landed on a large granite boulder using his right pinky finger. Holding himself completely vertical on his pinkie finger without using his ki for balance, he slowly started doing on fingered, and one armed push ups. He moved from finger to finger and then finally pushed off with his left pinkie and smashed his right hand into the boulder. It shattered into millions of small pieces.   
  
Clap! Clap! Clap!   
  
Roshi jerked his head up to see Kit dressed in a light silvery blue sports bra and silver mesh shorts leaning against a tree clapping at him.  
  
"Bravo! I think this is the first time I have seen even a faction of your abilities. You let me watch before, when you were trying to teach me how to sense ki, but you always held back. I have to admit you move to fast for me to see, but when you slowed down, your movements were very graceful."  
  
"Kit! What are you doing?" Roshi gasped.  
  
Kit looked down at herself. "Um, I was running. I run at least 20k a day. I love the trails out here. I was just finishing up when I ran past and saw you start your workout."   
  
Roshi looked at his watch, it was ten after eight. "You watched me for two hours and I didn't see you or sense you?" Roshi reached out with his senses. 'Yep, she's definitely there this isn't a dream. Maybe Dad was right, I need to work on my ki skill some.'  
  
Kit grinned in a very predatory way. "Well you were rather busy at the time." She replied as she untied the laces on her unique running shoes.   
  
Roshi watched Kit like it would make her go away. She slowly took her shoes off and wiggled her toes stretching them out. Although the only difference between Kit's hands and a normal person's hands was the fact that she had fur on the back of her hand, and she had smallish claws that were trimmed very short and filed down to be dull, her feet were a different story.  
  
Kit had paw shaped feet. They really did look somewhat like a dog's feet. She had small heels, which only rested on the ground when she was truly tired or resting. Otherwise she stood on her big splayed out toes. She had small pinkish-gray pads on the bottom of her feet and toes, and small hooked claws. All together it made he feet look fat and round. Rather then long and slender as one would expect looking at the rest of her.  
  
"Speaking of things not seen before, you always have on such baggy clothes. You are a lot skinnier then I thought."   
  
Kit's ears dropped a bit and started to turn red. Along with the glare, that was about the only good way of telling she was mad. "AUGGGHHH NOT YOU TOO!!! I am so sick of everyone either expecting me to be just like them, or treating me like a freak when I am not! I am not skinny! I am NORMAL ok?!"  
  
"Kit! Wait! I didn't mean it that way." Roshi said as Kit got up to run into the woods leaving her shoes behind.   
  
'Great, this is just great. Well time to go hall Kit someplace so we can talk.' Roshi thought as he flew after her and grabbed her under the armpits hauling her into the air.   
  
"AHHHHHHH!!! NOT OVER THE WATER!!!!" Kit screamed.  
  
Not wanting to wake up the entire camp, Roshi quickly flew up to the bluff at Videl's Lookout.  
  
"Kit, we need to talk. What is with your fear of the water?"  
  
"I smell like a wet dog, I look like a drowned rat, and I sink like a stone. What is there to like about the water?" She asked while tears welled in her greenish-gold eyes.  
  
"Kit, I've seen you soaking wet after a rain storm, you don't smell like a wet dog."  
  
"Yes I do. Vulpines have special, oil or musk glands so that our fur doesn't dry out. When I get wet, people can smell it. Please don't patronize me."   
  
"Kit, at the moment, you have just gotten done running, and are still practically lathered in your own sweat. I smell a heck of a lot more of your coconut shampoo then anything else. And you smell nothing like a wet dog. Besides, I have no idea how good your nose actually is, but I know I can smell things that normal Humans can't, so you really shouldn't worry about it."  
  
"I still look like a drowned rat."  
  
"And your point would be? Who are you trying to impress? Kit, we are your friends. You never used to be so self-conscious. What happened?"  
  
"No one, that's the... You wouldn't understand." Kit poked at her small waist. "Like this morning, I knew you didn't mean anything by your comments, but at the same time, it hurt because the stupid school nurse made me go to these stupid anorexic help sessions because I was too skinny. I am a bit light for my height, but I run a lot and I am not under weight. My people are just lighter then humans. Even if I am barely shorter then you."  
  
"Look Kit, I'm sorry if I offended you. You normally don't take offense to the little things. Seriously, what's up?"  
  
"I don't know, I've been under a lot of stress, and I guess Rock just got to me. Actually, no, that isn't it. Everyone else just got to me. You stepped in and saved the day, but every one of the people watching should have been just as angry with him as you were. Why is it that you were the only one to try to help? It just reminds me how different I am from everyone else, and I guess I have focused on that a bit too much."   
  
"Yes I would say so." Roshi said chidingly. "If you can't be yourself with your friends then we must not be good enough friends."   
  
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm still not swimming today. But I promise to be good." She said with a small smile.  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
"No I am not! Repeat after me. Kit hates the water. Kit cannot swim to save her own life. Kit does not own a swim suit and therefore will not be swimming."   
  
"What's wrong with swimming in what you are wearing right now?" Roshi asked innocently.   
  
Kit actually growled at him. "Don't even think it Ape!"   
  
"Ok, fine, I'm going back to camp. Later!" Roshi said as he jumped off the bluff.  
  
"Hey! Don't leave me here you inconsiderate ape you!" Kit screamed at him before turning around and running down the trail towards camp.   
* * *  
  
Roshi was fast asleep in the hammock when Kit got back to camp. "I'm going to kill him!" She said through clenched teeth as she walked up to where he was snoring away.  
  
"Oh leave him alone. He looks so cute there sleeping." Mariah said from where she was sitting basking in the sun.  
  
"Good point, I have a better idea." Kit said and turned to walk down to the boat. She grabbed both towropes and carried them back up to the hammock.   
  
"Did you know that Roshi is ticklish?" She asked Mariah as she started to wrap the towropes around Roshi and the hammock.   
  
This woke Roshi up. "Hey what are you doing?"  
  
"Tying you up. So Mariah can tickle you to death." Kit replied calmly as she double knotted the ropes.  
  
Roshi saw Mariah standing behind Kit. She had the most evil looking smirk on her face. "Hey Niko! Come help me torture Roshi!" She yelled out.  
  
'Aahhh I'm doomed. These ropes can't hold me, but how do I explain breaking them to Mariah and Niko?' "Hey, Kit! This isn't fair. Oh no Stop! Please Make them stop! Oh It hurts, I can't breathe. Kit call off your hounds. Oh can't breathe." Roshi gasped between fits of laughter as he tried his hardest not to actually break either the hammock or the towropes.  
  
"Funny usually hounds chase the fox, not the other way around." Kit teased.  
  
"Oh yeah! Good point!" Mariah said as she turned to grab onto one of Kit's arms.   
Kit's ears flattened. "And just what do you think you are doing?"   
  
"I'd say this hound has herself a fox. Awwwwwwooooooooo" Mariah said as she bayed at the sky and then broke down laughing.  
  
"Ah look the poor boy turned blue." Niko said as she untied Roshi who was panting to catch his breath.   
  
"Thank you!" He gasped.   
  
About that time the three girls started laughing and walked off closer to the beach.  
  
They were intercepted by Carge who winked towards Niko and then whistled and spoke. "Damn, Kit. If you had yourself a wonder bra you could almost pull off the Barbie doll look better then anyone else I know."  
  
He held up his hands as if taking a picture of Kit's chest. "One bodacious Vixen here! Get her while she's hot!"   
  
Kit's tail looked like a wire brush. "WHY YOU LITTLE PERVERT!!! My chest is OFF limits!"  
  
"Whatever you say, I'm going to get my camera. Bit of digital editing and I could make a fortune selling pin ups!" He said before turning around to run away from Kit.   
  
"WHY YOU!" She screamed as she chased after him.  
  
He had a 50-meter head start. He also didn't have a chance. Kit didn't care about anything except clobbering Carge. Which of course had been the plan.  
  
Just before Kit caught him, Carge jumped off of a small bluff and into the lake. Roshi had to give Kit credit. She did almost stop herself. But then again, almost seldom counts.   
  
"I've got you now! Why don't you make it easy on yourself and OH CRAP AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
  
Splash! Splash!  
  
Roshi was laughing so hard he almost forgot that he was supposed to go save Kit, since she really didn't know how to swim very well. "Great plan, Niko. Just don't encourage Carge. He was a bit too convincing." Roshi said as he ran past.  
  
"I know. That's why it worked." Niko laughed as she and Mariah ran and got the boat.  
  
Roshi dove of the cliff and "saved" Kit.  
  
"Land. Take me to land. No no no no not the boat. Land!" Kit pleaded as he hauled her onto the boat.  
  
"I hate you all. You are soo mean. I almost drowned!" Kit yelled as Niko and Mariah forced her to sit down.  
  
"Sorry, Kit, but we all decided that as your friends we needed to cure you of irrational behavior. Therefore you are going to put this nice vest thing called a flotation device on, and go ski." Roshi said holding up a life jacket.  
  
Kit mumbled something about stupid apes under her breath and grabbed the life jacket.  
  
"Ok that should fit you, it's the smallest one I have at the moment." Roshi stopped when Kit looked up and glared at him. "Ok, bad choice of words. Once you get those on, we will see if the skis, that I had specially made last week after I stole your shoe, actually fit you."   
  
Kit's jaw dropped. "You did what?"   
  
"I borrowed on of your old worn out running shoes and took it to get measurements so that I could have this pair of skis that would actually fit you." Roshi said as he held up a pair of silver skis.   
  
"How much did those cost?" Kit asked looking at them like they were vipers waiting to strike.   
  
"Nothing, I had Slip make them." Roshi replied.  
  
"You had this planned. That whole thing with Carge was a set up! You let me tie you up and then you... You... I hate you. You do realize that don't you?" Kit replied.  
  
"Well, sort of. It was Niko and Mariah's idea to call you a Barbie doll, but yeah it was a set up.  
  
"I really hate you." Kit said back. For some reason, she sounded more upset with herself then with Roshi.  
  
"Yep. At least you will until you start skiing. I've seen the pictures of you alpine skiing up north with your family. This is the same thing, only different. Now, get your butt in the and enjoy yourself." Roshi finished.  
  
"Yeah, and as soon as you are done, Mr. Rich and clumsy gets to ski. Roshi already said he wasn't skiing unless you did. So don't make us kill you." Mariah joked.  
  
"Do you have any idea how long I am going to have to shampoo myself to get this lake stench out of my fur?" Kit asked.  
  
Roshi laughed. "You were already in the lake. A second dip won't kill you."  
  
Kit grudgingly got into the water and put the skis on. "Hey they fit better then the Alpine skis my dad had made!" She yelled back.  
  
"Good!" Roshi yelled as he then instructed her how to get up onto the skis.  
  
Kit was a natural as Roshi and the others knew she would be. Once she started skiing, she didn't want to stop. But, eventually Niko and Mariah convinced her that it was time to pick on Roshi.  
  
True to his act of being a hopeless klutz, it took Roshi eight tries to get up onto his skis. He then made sure that he provided spectacular wipeouts for the four of his friends to watch.  
  
He did however make one mistake. He performed a near perfect face plant into the water, and then didn't let go of the towrope. Torpedoing through the water on his belly getting dragged by the boat was great fun for his friends to watch. However, when the water caught his shorts, even his reflexes were not fast enough to save them.  
  
'Oh this is splendid,' Roshi thought as he bobbed to the surface, and then quickly sunk down to his neck. He watched as his boat circled around and soon came back. Mariah was holding up his swim trunks.   
  
"Hey, Roshi did you lose something?" She laughed. "You suck even worse then I do, and I'm blind without my glasses!"  
  
'Thanks, I really meant to put myself into this situation.' "Um, could I please have those back?"   
  
Carge shook his head. "I don't know. I think you should ransom them. You never know what you might get."   
  
"Guys, this isn't funny. Please give me my shorts back."  
  
Kit grabbed them. "No, I think after what you did to me you can come get them. I think we all could use a good show."   
  
"Carge, I wouldn't be laughing about that idea if I were you." Roshi said flatly to try to get at least one of his friends to shut up.  
  
"Hey, it's only fair, if Carge can confuse me with a Barbie doll, he needs an education. I'm not a Barbie doll, but you could probably pass as Ken." Kit teased.   
  
"Nah, I'm just going to swim back to shore." Roshi said before he sank beneath the waves and quickly yanked the propeller off of the boat. 'My boat, therefore, my boat to break. At least I can keep my dignity.'  
  
Half an hour later, Roshi pulled his stranded friends back to shore with a Jet ski.   
  
The rest of the trip went fairly well. Roshi was still laughing about losing his shorts when he got home that evening and talked to Slip on the phone.  
  
Very soon, Roshi would wish his problems were as simple and harmless as losing his shorts in front of a bunch of girls.  
* * *   
  
Once again, Thanks goes to Kitsune Maxwell for making sure this fic is actually written in English.  
  
Oh, and I will try not to make anymore novel length chapters for a while. ;)   
  
Please Review! Your commentary is valuable. 


	4. Connecting the Dots

Chapter 4 Connecting the dots  
  
Thursday night and Friday morning.  
  
"Worthless traitorous scum!" Ichigo yelled to herself as she watched one of the documentaries about the Civil War that Momo had given her. "They should be executed on sight for their actions. I hate this mission already. There is no honor in asking for help from the honor-less."  
  
As she watched more of the documentary her anger at her mission and herself, and the universe in general grew.  
  
'Stupid bastards!' Ichigo had not thought about the Vegeta family in a long time. They were brutes. Some eight hundred years ago, they had lead a three year-long insurrection and rebellion. When it was all said and done, over 150 million innocent civilian Saiyans had died and some 3 million warriors had perished. When they realized that they would fail to defeat Ichigo's family, they had lead some 500,000 traitorous rebels on a mass exodus and went to serve the Changeling Cold. The Vegeta rebels were every bit as cruel and heartless as the Changelings they came to serve. They had conquered countless systems and killed billions of people. Then suddenly they and their cruel master disappeared through the Firbald Wormhole never to be seen again.  
  
Out of sight, out of mind. But now the Changelings were coming to destroy her life. The Changelings had never stopped attempting to recruit the Saiyan race since the Vegeta rebels had helped Cold come to power. The changelings seemed to think that since the scum like everyone who followed the traitorous Vegeta family were willing to be lap dogs, so were the rest of the Saiyan race.  
  
Actually, the only thing that had kept the Changelings from annihilating all of the Saiyans years ago was the fact that Changelings, as a race, were incredibly lazy. They did almost nothing themselves that they could force someone else to do for them. So they normally sent their brutes to Saiya every few years. It was almost as if they used Saiya as a training ground for their better brute squads. The Saiyans as a people normally stayed to themselves. They protected their own and traded with a very select group of races. When the brute squads came people died, but the strong warriors that survived became even better. It was a vicious cycle, but until today, it had always been a mutual cycle. While the better Saiyan soldiers were stronger than most of the brutes, the Saiyans had never been a threat, or had anything worth taking, so the Changelings had mostly left them alone.  
  
"Stupid bastards messed everything up." Ichigo muttered to herself as she grabbed a book and started reading.  
* * *  
  
Later that day  
  
"Approaching the Firbald Wormhole." The computer reported neutrally.  
  
"Damn. I hate this mission. It is stupid and I don't want to leave. We should be fighting for ourselves not looking for some stupid honor-less traitors that left centuries ago. Not only is this worse then finding a needle in a haystack, but once I find them, I have to show them how powerful I am so they respect me and then might help me. Which of course means I have to kill a bunch of people and terrorize a bunch of planets until they accept me. I don't want to be accepted by such scum! I don't want them to accept me it's degrading! I want Blizzard and his stupid Changelings to go away and never come back. Worst of it all is I know my father sent me away to protect me. I'm not a child I don't need protecting! How am I ever supposed to prove I am worthy if I'm never given the chance?"  
  
Ichigo probably could have gone on ranting about the her problems for a good deal longer, but she was interrupted by the computer, "Incoming message." It dutifully reported.  
  
"Ok, Play message."  
  
Captain Banana appeared on the screen.  
  
"King Kudamono and the entire first defensive legion are dead!" Blizzard killed them from space! He blew up half the planet! You have to help us we can't hold out much longer. Please come b##)*# BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ".  
  
"NOOO!!!" the message broke up as the ship plunged into the wormhole. "No! This can't be happening!" 'Why did the Changelings have to be so evil? Why Why Why!!!! It just wasn't fair!' She thought as she stared blankly at the now blank screen.  
  
Ichigo looked down at herself. She felt like a hollow shell. She was wearing the best Saiyan battle armor, and it wasn't her. She was an act, an imposter, and there was nothing she could do about it. "Sniff" 'No! You can't cry! You have a mission to do! The only thing that you could have done if you had stayed was die.' She thought to herself. 'Now at least there might be hope.' She shook her head, 'No, more like desperation'.   
  
'It doesn't matter. I have a to save my people. If I need to make a pact with the Vegeta Saiyans to do so, I will.' Ichigo set her face in as evil looking of a grimace as she could make. "The Vegeta family abhorred weakness. I cannot afford to show any now. If I am just an act, I had better get it right. The followers of Vegeta were cruel and evil and so will I be."   
  
Since the ship was on autopilot, she got up and walked to the galley. "It is not as if I can really expect to live through this trip anyway. If I return home without finding a Super Saiyan, I will die and my people will die with me. If I find the Super Saiyans I doubt they will let me live even if they do go kill the Changelings."  
  
She absent-mindedly opened the refrigerator and grabbed a gallon of milk with her tail. She was hungry and a girl had to eat. 'My best hope now is that when I do die I die with honor. If it convinces the Vegeta Rebels to save my people, then I cannot ask for anything more.'  
  
After a meal that would feed quite a few average humans she set about finding the home planet of the rebel Saiyans.  
  
"Computer, are there any planets or ships in scanner range?"  
  
"I am detecting the ruins of a planet that was destroyed approximately 600 years ago and one ship in range."   
  
"Give me scouter readings on that ship."  
  
"The ship bares a blue logo in the shape of two Cs and has four life-forms on board. The highest power level is a 5."  
  
"Ok set up a intercept course and dock with the ship. I am going to ask them some questions."  
  
As she said this, a cold dread filled her. 'Push it away,' she thought.  
  
Ichigo turned and looked at the box in which her mother's pendant sat. 'I must never forget who I am or why I do this. But I also cannot allow myself to feel regret. I have the fate of my entire race riding me. To doubt myself now is failure. Father always said to listen to those you trust but never doubt you actions when your actions must be done. Doubting yourself only breeds indecision and indecision kills people.'  
  
The ship docked with a thump. Ichigo slowly got up and went to the airlock. The door to the other ship wouldn't open so she blew it open with a Ki blast. 'A rebel wouldn't knock either.' Taking a quick look around she realized that the ship was a science vessel. There would be no challenges here.  
  
"Aahhh!!" A man screamed. "What do you want with us?"  
  
"Where can I find the Saiyans? Tell me or I will have to kill you" Ichigo said in her meanest voice possible.  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about!" the man screamed.  
  
Ichigo picked him up and threw him into a wall. She had only meant to rough him up, but he was of an exceptionally weak species. She cringed involuntarily when she heard his neck and several other bones break.  
  
'OOHHH!! And I hadn't even gotten any information from him,' she realized. 'Well there were still three more people on this ship. All I have to do is find them.'  
  
"--Smit now!" she heard a woman say as she walked into a large room.  
  
"Transmit what?" Ichigo said to the woman.  
"Please don't hurt us, our research here is important," the woman pleaded.  
  
"That does not tell me what you sent and to whom you sent it."  
  
"I sent our data on the debris from the planet Vegeta, it is."  
  
"VEGETA!?!?" Ichigo screamed, "What do you mean, debris!??"  
  
"The planet that was here was once called Vegeta that is all I know, we were sent to look for artifacts."  
  
"What happened to the Saiyans?"  
  
"Who are the Saiyans?" the woman responded. Then she saw Ichigo's scowl and thought better of that response. "Oh, you mean the people that lived on the planet? They must have all died."  
  
"Tell me what you know of them now or I will have to kill you like I did that stupid man in the other room."  
  
"What?! You killed Kenny!"  
  
KA-ZAP! Ichigo blew a very small hole in the side of the ship. A loud PSSSSSSSSST noise could be heard as the air escaped through the hole.  
  
"Hear that? That is your air. Tell me what you know and I might patch the hole."  
  
"Ah AH I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! I DON"T WANT TO DIE!!!" the woman collapsed onto the floor bawling her head off.  
  
  
"Sigh" Ichigo walked right past the woman and went to look for the other two people. 'Why is it so hard to get any information? Surely the rebel Saiyans had wrecked havoc on the people of this galaxy. These people should be overly willing to tell her how to find them. It just doesn't make any sense.'  
  
She found the last two people huddled together on the bridge.  
  
"Will you two cooperate or will I have to kill you? Do either of you know anything about the Saiyans?"  
  
"Umm one of the tests we were running here was to look for DNA," the blonde male said. "We da-da-didn't find any."  
  
"Why were you looking for the DNA?"  
  
"We don't know, we were just supposed to collect samples if we found some! Please, we don't know anything about the people who lived here." The girl cried.  
  
"Fine none of you seem to know anything about the Saiyans, tell me how to find the Namekians."  
  
"The Namekians? What do you want wi-oouuph ack..." His question was cut off when Ichigo hit him in the stomach. The redheaded girl just stared as her companion coughed up blood.  
  
Ichigo was getting sick and mad. She didn't want to hurt them, but they just wouldn't cooperate. She vented her rage by shooting out a computer monitor with a ki blast. Well, at least, that had been what she meant to do. The young woman jumped and ran towards the door just as the Ki blast left Ichigo's hand. It hit her on the side of her face and ended up blowing off the girl's head.  
  
'Oh! No! I hate this. I don't want to kill any more people!' Ichigo thought to herself.  
  
BANG!!!...Ping!!  
  
The man had from someplace pulled a strange weapon and fired it at her head. The bullet had impacted harmlessly in the middle of Ichigo's forehead. It stung, but that was about all it did.  
  
Whap! More by instinct then thought, Ichigo slapped the thing out of his hand. She managed to break several of the bones in his hand and arm in the process.  
  
'Serves him right the jerk, and to think I was feeling sorry for them just a moment ago.' She thought to herself as she then ignored the sobbing and whining of the man went to the navigation computer and found the location of Namek. 'Yes that will be my next stop.'  
  
She looked down at the man and realized that he was only a few years older then her and probably had been hoping for a long happy life. Thinking of her father and the horrors of Blizzard she silently apologized. 'We don't always get what we want,' she said to herself. Stepping over the fallen girl Ichigo started to loose the little amount of emotional control that she had kept during the one sided confrontation. A single tear rolled down her face as she got back into her ship. It was soon followed by many more.  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile in Heaven on the planet Kaioshin. (still Thursday, Sorry)  
  
Goku was the Guardian Champion of the Universe. Most people who knew of his existence called him Shin-Goku as a sign of supreme respect. Being the Guardian Champion was rather boring to Goku. Since he was not actually dead, the Kaios did not like him leaving to visit Chichi, Gohan, Goten and the rest of the gang in the dead people's area of heaven. Rather, he had to sit here and make sure nothing like Majin Buu ever came back to the universe. As nothing like Buu had ever reared its ugly head, Goku had spent the last 400 odd years training.  
  
While Saiyans liked to train, 400 years was a bit much. So he sat down and watched what was happening on Earth. He saw Roshi and his father training, and was proud that his descendants were still masters of martial arts. Even if there had not been any impetus to become a Super Saiyan since he had absorbed the dragon balls so many years ago.  
  
He watched for many hours. Through the night and well into the morning, he watched. He watched with pride as Goshu, Teddy, and Frank left for New Namek. He smiled as Roshi and his friends headed off to camp.  
  
Happy with what was happening on Earth, he broadened his search to include anything that included humans.   
  
"What's this?" He asked as he saw a young girl kill an innocent man on a Capsule Corp. ship.  
  
Hmm, she's looking for Saiyans, I wonder why. Goku thought. He focused his thoughts on her and then almost fell over.  
  
"SHE'S A SAIYAN PRINCESS!!!! WHERE DID SHE COME FROM!!!!!!!!!! HEY KAIOSHIN!!!! I FOUND ANOTHER SAIYAN!!!"  
  
Kaioshin, who had been meditating, almost jumped off of his planet at the sound of Goku's voice.  
  
"Do you always have to be so excitable?"  
  
"I found another Saiyan! Isn't that exciting?" Goku happily said.  
  
"Oh, you finally found Saiya, that is the planet on which your people originated. I would have thought that you would have found it much sooner."  
  
"WHAT A PLANET?!?!? I only found one Girl!!!"  
  
Kaioshin rolled his eyes and pointed to a star off to the east. "There, look there. Now, if you don't mind, I am going back to my meditation."  
  
Goku was about to open his mouth when Kaioshin, knowing what was coming, created a mountain of food between the two of them.  
  
"Umm, Ah, Thanks! Kaioshin."  
  
After devouring the mountain of food, Goku set about locating the planet Saiya. In just a few moments, he found what he was looking for. It totally surprised him. 'Huh? There's so many of them. Wow I never thought I would see so many Saiyans. And they seem almost like humans.   
  
Whoa, what's this?' "AAAAAAAAAHHHH FRIEZA'S PEOPLE!!!!!!! They're attacking the planet! I thought that we had killed them all. Darn, I find my race and they're being attacked by Changelings!"  
  
Goku had learned a few things while he had been training. One of the things he learned was to use his telepathy, like what he had done with Krillan on Namek, at great range. He searched for the leader of the Changelings and learned what was planned. He then found the mind of King Kudamono and learned of his and Ichigo's plans.   
  
He realized that they had made a mistake. A mistake that could prove to be fatal for a lot of people.  
  
He knew that people would die regardless of what he did now. But, there was a chance that just a few actions could cause things to work in the right direction for those Goku cared about. Since he knew Kaioshin would never let him get directly involved, Changelings where not a threat to the universe as a whole, he decided to take a different route.   
  
"Kaioshin, I'm getting a friend to train with! Bye"  
  
And with that Goku disappeared.  
* * *  
  
Hmmm.. from 26 to 7 pages. Well they can all be novels by themselves.  
  
Once again Kitsune Maxwell edited this. (thank you)  
  
Please review! 


	5. Cruelty Incarnate

Chapter 5 Cruelty Incarnate  
  
(This is a warning for you people who get queasy. There is some gore found here)  
  
Meanwhile on the Planet Saiya.  
  
King Kudamono watched helplessly as Blizzard marched into his throne room. His daughter Snow, his brother Thunder, his wife Ice, and his general Chill followed Blizzard.  
  
Five, five of the bastard Changelings had come with over 20,000,000 troops to subjugate the planet Saiya. They had arrived seven hours after he had sent his daughter Ichigo away. They had landed and quickly began searching out only the high level Saiyans. Kudamono had personally lead his warriors into battle. It was all for naught. Blizzard's forces had quickly overwhelmed the Saiyan line. They had captured or killed anyone who was a threat. The King himself had been captured by Ice less then five minutes into the fighting. Now that they had finished herding those Saiyans with power levels over 10,000 like cattle into holding pens, they had finally come for him.  
  
"Well, well, my good King Kudamono. Your people put up quite a fight. When we caught you last Friday, it only made them fight even harder." Blizzard said as he looked to the five brutes that had held Kudamono captive for the past few days.  
  
"Now there is a problem. One that you could fix for us. We have rounded up all of the Saiyans that we did not have to kill outright. Your daughter is not one of the dead, and she is not one of the captives. WHERE IS SHE????!!!"  
  
"Gone, where you can't hurt her." He replied as he spit into Blizzard's face.  
  
Blizzard licked the spittle off of his face and slapped Kudamono.  
  
"No, but I can hurt you until you tell me where she is. You have a reputation of caring for your people. Because of that, I am going to make you suffer. There are about 200,000 warriors that we rounded up. I am going to kill every last one of them one at a time in this room right in front of your face, until you tell me where she is."  
  
"No, you can't do that, you heartless demon!!"  
  
"I can, and will if you don't tell me!" He then turned to one of his guards, a strange lizard-man with a power of around 150,000, and gave an order. "Bring in the monkeys."  
  
The King, tied to his throne with ki limiting shackles and gloves binding him could only watch in horror as Blizzard walked up to General Meron.   
  
Meron knew what was coming and just looked at the king with a look of wonderment in why this could be happening.  
  
Then Blizzard grabbed the Meron's head and squeezed it until it shattered like and egg. Blood and brains splattered around the room. Blizzard sucked up a piece of brain and slowly swallowed it.  
  
"Yum, I should feed you monkeys to my solders. It is a lot easier than getting other food."  
  
Meron was in all actuality, King Kudamono's only real friend and had been his best man at his wedding. Kudamono's anger was incredible, had his power level been high enough, he probably would have become a Super Saiyan. Unfortunately, all he could do was shout.  
  
"You heartless, cruel bastard! We never did anything to you! I'll never let you get my daughter!"  
  
"Hehehe, suit yourself, GOOD King Kudamono." Blizzard said as he turned to look at the guard again. "Bring in the next one."  
  
The guard returned shortly dragging a woman behind him.  
  
"Oh no, NO, NO!!!! You wouldn't, not even you could be that heartless!" Kudamono yelled as he recognized the next person being brought in.  
  
It was Aoikinomi, Meron's 8-1/2 month pregnant wife. She was due in two weeks and had not had an easy pregnancy. The bruises on her face and arms also told him that she had not been taken easily. She saw the body of her husband and tried desperately to break free.  
  
"Ah, such a pity, she looks like she would have brought quite the warrior into this world." Blizzard said to the King as he walked over to her.  
  
"No, please, I beg you!" she whispered looking at her fallen mate.  
  
Blizzard kicked her in the stomach, hard. She went down and coughed up blood.   
  
"Oh, look, she is making such a mess of the carpet. I just can't have that." Blizzard said as he went over to stand on her neck preventing her from coughing up more blood. This of course also slowly strangled her over the next ten long minutes. Ten minutes in which all the king could do was beg and plead and cry out in inner anguish.  
  
"She went to find the Super Saiyans!" he finally broke and shouted. But it was too late, too late for the baby, and too late for the mother. Blizzard removed his foot in time for her last gurgling breath. Then, she was gone. Meron and his wife had lost two children in their youth. This had been their last chance to raise a family. The bitter taste of bile in Kudamono's mouth was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.'I failed you, Ichigo,' he thought. 'Just like I have failed Meron and Aoikinomi and their child. Just like I have failed everyone. Please hurry, the people need you.'  
  
The king couldn't even lift his eyes from the dead body of Aoikinomi as Blizzard prepared to leave the room.   
  
"There, was that so hard?" he asked before giving new orders to his men. "You remove these bodies. You go get some more. I would suggest you use the higher-powered women first. Women have such emotional impact on men. Oh, and if they are pregnant like that one was, consider it a bonus. Thunder, find inventive ways to kill them until I come back."  
  
"NOOOO, I told you what you wanted to know. Leave them be! Just kill me and get it over with!"  
  
Blizzard turned around. "Oh no, I can't do that. You are going to watch your precious people die one at a time until I can tell you that your daughter is dead. Then when all the rest of you pathetic monkeys are dead, then and only then you will die. The last living man of a pathetic dead race!" He turned and left the room. "Come, Snow, I have work for you."  
  
King Kudamono sat in total helpless desperation, and wished for his own death.  
  
* * *  
  
"You told me that your message would bring her back." Blizzard yelled at Banana.  
  
"You told me that you would kill the king and name me his replacement." He responded.  
  
"Oh, don't worry. I'll still name you king. After I have had my fun with the Good King Kudamono."  
  
Blizzard turned around and pinned Banana to a wall. "Part of that fun is telling him just how his daughter met her end. Since she is not here I CANNOT DO THAT!" Blizzard was quite upset.  
  
"She went to find the mythical Super Saiyans. Obviously there is some sort of wormhole as you call it linking this space to where ever Cold and his sons went. You are going, take five of your most trusted men. You are then going to find this wormhole and go through it. Since I believe that the Namekian was lying to scare me, you will most likely find Cold or his sons in charge there. Give them this."  
  
He then gave Banana a small tablet with writing on it. It was in a language that Banana had never seen before.  
  
"It tells them that there is a Saiyan Princess lose in their space and you were sent to kill them. It is signed by me and will be respected."  
  
He paused and looked at Banana. "Once you have killed her, you will return here with your scouters and after we show him the manner in which his precious daughter met her doom, I will kill the king in front of you and name you the new King."  
  
"Just make sure you do." Banana replied.  
  
"Now go find your men."  
  
* * *  
  
After Banana had left, Blizzard turned to his daughter.  
  
"Father, you already knew where the monkey-girl had gone. Was the show in there for your benefit or for your soldiers?"  
  
"Actually it was for the GOOD king. He had to betray his people to protect his daughter. I wanted to see how long it would take to make the man crack. Seems it only took two. But when we have proof that his daughter is dead, then, then he will finally have betrayed or failed everything he has ever cared for. It will be a delicious moment."  
  
"Yes, indeed it will, Father. Now, what did the message you just gave the traitor actually say, Father?"  
  
"What I told them it did, and for Cold to kill them after they had killed the girl. It also said not to damage the scouters, as they will record the girl's death."  
  
"Yes, I thought as much. He is arrogant. He acts as if he is your equal. Why do you tolerate such nonsense?"  
  
"Because he is a fool. He gave me all the information I needed to conquer this planet and actually thinks that I only plan on killing the king and his loyal supporters."  
  
"Yes, and just what are your plans for this planet?" Snow asked cynically.  
  
"The Saiyans have always been a decent proving ground for our troops. I plan on keeping it that way. Once we have killed off all the high level warriors, we will do with the rest as we wish. We can have our soldiers kill almost all of the males, as they are only useful as targets for our men. The better-looking women can be sold as concubines to our armies. As long as we do not allow any pregnancies we will not have to worry about those matings. The rest can be bred for the fodder they are. Yes, I do like that idea, a continuous supply of Saiyans to the slaughter. They will make an excellent means for training our armies."   
  
"Yes, and as long as we keep close watch we will never need to worry about that silly myth of theirs." Snow sneered.  
  
"Yes, about that, we must be more serious. There is a very slight possibility that what the Namek said was true. You are to follow the Saiyans to the wormhole. Then you will wait for them. If they return, kill them. If they do not, most likely they delivered the message to Cold and are by then dead. Once a month has past, go through the wormhole and make sure that they die. If there is no sign of Cold, kill the Saiyans quickly and comeback with the scouters, without being followed. We cannot afford to have anything that could kill Cold and his sons finding a way here."  
  
He looked down at her sternly. "If Cold is still alive, you are about the same age as his youngest son. Possibly it is time for you to find yourself a suitable mate."  
  
"FATHER!!"  
  
"Yes, I know. Now go, you must not let Banana return here alive."  
* * *  
  
K.M. has Translated this from the language Smoo into American English.  
  
And this should be the shortest chapter of the whole fic. But it is a stand alone chapter, so I guess it can be short.  
  
Please Review! Honesty is important to me.  
The Smooster 


	6. A Saiyan and the Big Green Man

Chapter 6 A Saiyan??? And the Big Green Man Saturday, June 7  
  
"Hi Mom! I'm home!" Roshi yelled as he walked into his house.  
  
"Slip has been trying to get a hold of you for the past two days." Roshi's mother said when he found her in her sunroom reading.  
  
"Well I turned my cell phones off for a reason. The camping trip went well and I can't say I mind not being distracted."  
  
Roshi's mother smiled knowingly. "I'm sure you had plenty on you mind son. So, how soon am I going to get to meet this girlfriend of yours?"  
  
"Um, she's just a friend mom, and you have already met." Roshi said while quickly backing out of the room. He would rather face a million people like Rock then be alone in a room with his mother when she started prying into his personal life. "Ah yeah, anyway, it's late and I'm tired, so I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."  
  
Son Beth shook her head and went back to her reading. 'He can't avoid me forever.' * * *  
  
"Roshi! It's about time you got home! I have a major problem and I don't know whom else to turn to. Hurry up and come to my lab we need to talk."  
  
Roshi glanced at his watch. "Slip, it is 10:45! Can't this wait until morning?"  
  
"No! I've already waited almost two days! I would have gone and got you from your stupid camping trip if I would have had the time. Now get your butt in motion and don't argue with me!"  
  
Roshi rolled his eyes stood up turned around stuck his butt in front of the camera and wiggled it. "Ok, my butt is in motion, now what?"  
  
"ROSHI! You are such an ASS at times! I don't have time for your tomfoolery. We have a major crisis here!"  
  
"Fine, I'll be there in a bit." Roshi said as he ended the connection.  
  
Slip was a month older then he was, and was for all practical purposes his surrogate sister. The two of them spent a lot of time together annoying each other to no end. But at the same time, she was probably the one person his age that he could truly rely on in all situations. For her to be as panicked as she was meant that there really was something going on. Roshi guessed it had something to do with Capsule Corp, since her parents had more or less left her in charge while they were on vacation.  
  
It took Roshi a leisurely half hour to get to Capsule Corp's complex in West City. Slip was waiting impatiently in front of the old dome.  
  
"Roshi! What took you so long? Hurry up, we have a big problem."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Agggh! Just follow me!" she said as she walked to the private elevator that lead to her lab.  
  
As a seventeenth birthday gift, Slip's parents had given her the codes to get into one of the old labs that had not been used in many years. It had once been Bulma's, the first Bulma. It had been abandoned when a larger domed complex had been built next door to the original dome. The new building had newer equipment and bigger labs. So, the old labs got turned into storage rooms.  
  
The gift had not been something new to Slip. In fact she and Roshi had broken into that very lab as kids and found all kinds of interesting things.  
  
Slip's scouter had been one such early discovery.  
  
It did mean that she could now access the computers and other equipment that had been code locked. So she had spent many many months trying to find just what all the lab had in it that was still useful.  
  
"As you know, my parents went with your dad to Namek. They said that they needed a vacation. Your dad needed to get to Namek and since they were going to stop at Namek anyway they took your dad with them. They planned to go on the scenic route, which would take them 10 days to get to Namek."  
  
"So..."  
  
PJ decided to take a cruse on his stupid yacht and he won't accept calls. My parents also will not accept any calls. They said I could handle everything. Well they're wrong!"  
  
"Ah, Slip, what's wrong? Hey you listening?"  
  
"They're wrong and she is looking for us and killing people. Then Buu is gone and no one is here to protect us and she is probably going to come and kill us and we didn't even do anything. And then my parents are going to..."  
  
"Ah, SLIP! YOU STILL HAVE NOT TOLD ME WHAT IS WRONG!" Roshi shouted at her to get her attention.  
  
"AHH! GEEZE DO YOU HAVE TO YELL IN MY EAR?!?!?! I'M GETTING TO IT!!!"  
  
"Yeah you were spouting off a huge incomprehensible rant about someone who is looking for us and killing people. And what's this about Buu being gone?"  
  
"Incomprehensible my butt, you understood everything I said!"  
  
"SLIP! Hearing the words, and understanding the problem are two totally different things. Would you just take a deep breath, calm down, and start from the beginning?"  
  
"Haaaahhh whooooo, Ok I'll tell you from the beginning."  
  
Slip went on to tell him about how her parents had left her in charge of the Capsule Corp. Well, the secret projects at least. PJ and the normal managers and other people took care of the day-to-day workings of the megacorp.  
  
Early Friday morning she had received a priority distress message from one such project.  
  
Slip showed him the message while she attempted to explain. She said that it was from the survey ship that they had investigating the debris from Planet Vegeta.  
  
A woman looked into the screen with an expression of absolute terror. Then a young woman dressed in bright Pink, white and black combat armor walked into the room. She threatened to kill the woman if she didn't tell her how to find the Saiyans. She eventually blew a hole in the side of the ship and killed a different woman by blowing off her head before leaving the remaining man and the woman who had sent the recording to suffocate when their air ran out.  
  
Slip told him that after watching the transmission, she immediately tried to call back her parents ship, which had just left an hour before. But she got a prerecorded message from her parents saying that she should bother PJ with any Corp related problems, and she could handle anything else that came up. They would not accept any messages during their trip.  
  
So she tried to call her Uncle PJ, but he had left a prerecorded message saying that if you didn't have the access codes to his voice mail system you obviously were not important and he would be back when he was back.  
  
Roshi shook his head in wonderment. PJ was a Co-VP with his father, but in reality the man was just a figurehead that made commercials and stayed out of the actual running of the company. "That sounds just like PJ."  
  
Slip ignored the comment, and continued her explanation. After failing to get a hold of her parents, PJ, she tried calling Roshi. After that, she flew to Kami's Sanctuary and see what he and Buu would say.  
  
Kami had told her that an old friend had shown up just about an hour before and taken Buu to train on some other planet!  
  
"Do you see my problem Roshi? Buu could have killed her when she showed up. Or your dad could have. But with everyone gone, you are now the strongest fighter on Earth."  
  
"Hey, what am I? A cream puff or something? You know that I am almost as good as my father!"  
  
"Yeah, but watch this. The transmission also included video documentation from the previous hours. Look at what she does to this man."  
  
Roshi watched as she chucked a man into a bulkhead breaking his neck and back.  
  
"So, that's really no big deal."  
  
"What? She chucked him like he was a bag of chips! I've never seen anyone do anything like that before!"  
  
"Uhhh, you haven't?" Roshi realized that she was surprised at the action, not the strength of the act. It was not letting her think straight. Spotting a gray piece of metal he went over and picked it up.  
  
"Hey Slip, what kind of metal is this?"  
  
"What! There's a killer looking for us and you are so bored that you have to go look for things to break!! Are you so absent minded that you can't see how much trouble we are in?" She demanded.  
  
"Just tell me what it is."  
  
"Hmmm oh, it's a layered crystalline titanium alloy, you can't bend it." She said as Roshi snapped the rod in two.  
  
"Ahhh, you shouldn't have been able to break it either! That rod was 500 times stronger than steel!!! How did you do that?"  
  
"Slip do you even know your own strength? You could have killed that man in the exact same manner. The fact that she killed him only means that she is brutal, not that she is strong. Besides, Goku and Vegeta and our ancestors faced people much stronger than the Buu living with Dende. If you remember, Buu could blow up whole solar systems. If she comes here before my dad gets back I'll just have to fight her."  
  
"But what if you aren't strong enough?" Slip asked sounding frightened.  
  
Roshi pondered for a bit. "Well, my father wanted me to work on my ki skills. Looks like the Universe has conspired with him to make sure I actually do. All I can really do is train until she gets here. Who knows, I might not be stronger then her, but the least I can do is try."  
  
"Ok, how do I help?" Slip asked not sounding reassured.  
  
"Well first I want to watch that transmission closer. There may be something we're missing."  
  
"Ok," Slip said as she put the transmission on the big screen and started it playing back on repeat play.  
  
Roshi watched several times. 'Something isn't right about this. I can't quite place my finger on it.'  
  
"What the!" Roshi suddenly exclaimed. "Slip back it up to when she walks onto the bridge and zoom in on her chest."  
  
Slip looked at him incredulously. "Roshi, that is hardly the type of thing you should need to look at closer!"  
  
"What? Oh! Would you get your mind out of the gutter? I want to get a closer look at that symbol on the right side of her armor." Roshi said shaking his head.  
  
"I was only teasing. Here you go. Don't enjoy yourself too much."  
  
Ignoring her, he looked at the symbol and muttered. "I thought so. Could you zoom in on her waist please?"  
  
Slip giggled and recentered the zoom.  
  
"Slip, I said her waist not her crotch"  
  
"You are absolutely no fun. You must really be serious about that girl you took camping." Slip pouted, but moved the picture up.  
  
"Slip would you lay off? We are just friends!" Roshi said before he turned to look at the screen. Upon seeing what he had half expected but hoped not to see, he blanched. "Ok Slip, what do you see?"  
  
Slip looked at the picture. Well she has no fashion sense. Her fuzzy grayish brown belt really clashes with the hot pink armor. It looks dumb."  
  
Roshi rolled his eyes and walked over to the computer consul. He split the screen into four parts. The first window he put a full body shot into. The next he zoomed in on the scouter. The last two he zoomed on onto the symbol on her chest, and her waist.  
  
"That isn't a belt. I would say it is her tail."  
  
Recognition dawned on slip and her jaw just about bounced off the floor. "But that's impossible! She can't be a Saiyan! Vegeta and Goku were the only two that survived! We would have known about any other survivors years ago!  
  
"Tell that to her. Seeing this makes me wonder if I will actually have to fight. But then, Vegeta's people were ruthless murderers and planet thieves, so we had better be prepared for a fight." Roshi said.  
  
"She can't be a Saiyan!" Slip said once again. * * *  
  
Meanwhile Ichigo was in route to Namek.  
  
It took Five days to reach Namek. By the second day Ichigo was out of fresh food. Ichigo was using the training simulator quite heavily and had not realized how little real food she had until after one particularly grueling session.  
  
GURGLE. Her stomach was making a terrible racket. Ichigo stopped her workout and looked down at her stomach. Shaking her head she then headed for the ship's galley.  
  
'Food, I need to eat something if I am to keep up this pace.' Ichigo thought as she stepped into the ship's main pantry. 'I think I'll eat some of everything.' She opened up the refrigerator. "AHHHH!! WHERE'S ALL MY FOOD?!?!?!"  
  
She almost panicked as she looked into the empty cooler. "Oh no, all I have left to eat are support rations!"  
  
Support rations offered a measly 12,000 Calories a bar and tasted like dried cardboard. While being nutritionally adequate, Ichigo had never been forced to live off the things before.  
  
Tuesday  
  
"Approach vector to Namek, Landing in 2 minutes." the computer reported.  
  
'Hurry up!' Ichigo thought, 'if I have to eat another stupid icky support bar, I'll die. I need real food!'  
  
"Computer, give me a scouter reading, and scan the planet for any large agricultural settlements."  
  
"Scanning. There are approximately 500 life forms with power levels between 1,000 and 5,000. There are 6 life forms with power levels of 5,000 - 15,000. There is one life form with power level between 20,000 and 30,000. There is one life form at 56,000. There is a city with a large agricultural network in the northern continent."  
  
'Fifty-six Thousand! I need to find the Vegeta Saiyans, and those might be them, but I do not want to tangle with them before I have to. And if it is not them, I don't want to fight them at all.' Ichigo thought to herself.  
  
"Where is the highest power level?"  
  
"It is located on an island off the southern continent."  
  
"Set down in the northern agricultural region."  
  
Ichigo was heading for Peace City, a human colony that the Capsule Corp had helped to set up with cooperation of the Namekians 216 Years ago.  
  
The Human colonists helped the Namekians with their agissa plants, and the Namekians helped the Humans grow their food and build their city. It was an all-together happy partnership.  
  
As soon as the ship set down, Ichigo set about finding herself some food. Se quickly found a herd of beef grazing on a meadow.  
  
Hmmm, they look kind of like the milk cows back home. They should be edible.  
  
She decided to zap one and see how it tasted. After a meal that would feed 20 or more humans she decided that she should grab several of these animals and put them in her ship. They tasted good. She then found a field of tomatoes and after tentatively tasting one grabbed several hundred of them and took them to her ship. Next, she found some potatoes. Realizing that the tubers would be a good source of carbohydrates she created a windblast with her ki and blew all the dirt off of about 200 plants.  
  
Of course all of this took time and she had been spotted. The same weak life forms as those that Ichigo had found on the ship were starting to gather in a crowd. Finally one of them got fed up with her taking all of their food.  
  
"Now hold it right there missy." A man in a blue uniform said.  
  
Ichigo did not want to cause any trouble, but her scouter reported that the strongest one in this group had a power level of 430. They were no threat, but she had to stay in character.  
  
She turned an looked at him through her big Blue-Gray eyes and asked, "Or what?"  
  
"Or, Or, I'll have to shoot." he said as He pulled up a large gray object.  
  
Ichigo started giggling. 'Oh, the ignorance of these people.' She remembered that she was supposed to act evil and turned her giggle into an evil wispy laugh.  
  
"Ha, I am looking for the Saiyans, one of them supposedly fought legendary battle here long ago. Now tell me what you know or I will shoot." Ichigo said as she used a weak Ki bolt to turn the man's gun into molten scrap.  
  
They all looked at her with dumbfounded expressions and big sweat drops.  
  
"Come on you idiots have to know something other then how to die!"  
  
A big fat man came forward. "Um, the only legendary battle I know about was with Mr. Satan and Cell..." The man realized that he was not telling her what she wanted to know.  
  
"Anyway, if want to kill us all, you can't. Mr. Satan's descendant's are still alive and they can save us from..." Slap! "ack, ku, gurgle..."  
  
Ichigo realized that it was amazingly easy to kill these creatures. The lightest of slaps had ripped of the poor man's face. It sure wasn't hard to maintain an evil act when the slightest action seemed to kill someone. It was starting to gnaw on her conscience. 'Is saving my people worth it if it turns me into a monster just like Blizzard?'  
  
'No, it is not.' She decided that from now on she would try to be destructive without killing anyone.  
  
She turned and sent out a ki blast that blew up about ten square km of farmland. 'There, that feels better.'  
  
"Now does anyone have any idea what happened to the Saiyans?"  
  
About a third of them had passed out, the rest were running for their lives.  
  
'Darn,' she thought, 'no one knows anything. Well I guess I had better go find one of the higher-powered people on this planet, maybe one of them would know. But first, I need to finish collecting food.'  
  
On the next trip back to her ship a strange green and pink man was sitting on the top of it.  
  
"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE I SUGEST YOU GO AWAY!" She yelled at him as she approached.  
  
The green man cocked an eye (Namekians do not have eyebrows to cock) at her. "Hah, You are quite the comedian. I have a suggestion for you."  
  
She cocked her eye right back at him. She had in her life met very few who would dare be so crass with a princess of the Saiyan race. This was intriguing. She turned her scouter back on (funny how it always seems to be off when it was needed most.) and looked at the green man.  
  
"Oh you do? Well what is it?" She then looked at the reading. 52,000! Crap! Where did he come from?  
  
"I suggest you stop killing humans and leave. What you look for is not here." he replied.  
  
Gulp, "Oh really, What do you care if a few insignificant ants die here or there?" She replied.  
  
He started to laugh, a sound that was much like the grinding of gravel, or a small thunderstorm brewing in the distance. "They are hardly insignificant. In the last five hundred years their planet has been attacked no less than fifteen times. The attacker or attackers in each case have always failed. If you go there you too will loose, hmmgh hmmmgh hmmgh, and you would lose badly."  
  
"Oh is that right, by the looks of them they couldn't defend against a flea. If anything significant had ever attacked they would surely have been destroyed."  
  
"That is what the Saiyan Prince Vegeta thought, and King Cold and his sons Frieza and Cooler."  
  
Ichigo was shocked; those pathetic creatures could not have beaten a Changeling. He had to be bluffing.  
  
'Hmmm, if that is a bluff, then,' she tapped her scouter again. The Zugas could falsely raise their power levels to confuse even the best scouter for short periods of time. It was possible that this green man was doing the same thing. 'HA! Only 5,000! He would be a piece of cake, and the jerk deserved it.'  
  
"Alright, So you know about the Saiyans, what do you know?"  
  
"Only that there are none left. You might as well go back to whatever rock you have been hiding under. Frieza blew up the Planet Vegeta and then on the first planet Namek, he killed Prince Vegeta who had retreated from the human's planet. The only other remaining Saiyan, named Kakarott, fought and defeated Frieza. Frieza, however, managed to cause the whole planet to blow up moments after the fight ended."  
  
Ichigo was feeling a good bit of doubt in the possible success of her mission. Then she realized that that was what the green man wanted. He HAD to be lying.  
  
She decided to attack.  
  
"Ki punch!" She screamed as she delivered a glowing fist to the side of the green man's face. While not as impressive looking as an energy beam, the Ki punch was one of her most powerful and effective attacks as it normally would have transferred a huge amount of Ki energy into the green man's face.  
  
It did nothing.  
  
Her hand had hit nothing. Her hand went right through the false image of the green man.  
  
"What? Where did he go?" She said aloud.  
  
Her scouter wasn't picking up anything. Then it found him, behind her. It had to be a malfunction or something.  
  
"Here is an attack one of those humans came up with, hope you like it!"  
  
"KAMEHAMEHA" the man screamed from behind her.  
  
She spun, NO! The white-blue beam was headed right for her ship. She couldn't block it with an attack of her own without damaging the ship. She made a desperate move and flung herself to the left to block the beam. Her scouter still showed the man at a power level of 5,000. His beam should have been easy to stop.  
  
The blue beam turned and rammed right into her as she flew to stop it.  
  
"AAAHHHH"  
  
Ichigo had not had time to realize that the beam had turned to hit her. She did however realize just how much that beam had hurt. Her Saiyan armor exploded as the beam hit her in the shoulder. Belatedly she realized that the beam was much much stronger then it had looked.  
  
Her neck, shoulder and left arm were blistered and burned. The ship thankfully was not damaged.  
  
"W... Who are you?" She demanded.  
  
The green man hovered a few tens of meters away and smiled.  
  
"I am named Piccolo after one of the greatest Namekian fighters ever. You cannot beat me. I suggest you retreat."  
  
"A Saiyan never retreats from a battle!"  
  
"Oh, so you are a Saiyan? That matters little, even Saiyans retreat when the battle is pointless. They will leave," he said in a menacing tone.  
  
I will beat him! I have to. He has the information that I want and can tell me where to find the Vegeta rebels. I must get that information!  
  
"And how do you know this if all of the Saiyans are supposedly dead?"  
  
"Oh, you will find out... Eventually."  
  
At that he came at her again. He sent out a rapid succession of Ki blasts that chased her around in the sky. Thankfully she was faster than he had thought.  
  
Ichigo saw her opening. While he was concentrating on controlling his Renzoku Energy Dan like Ki blasts, he was vulnerable.  
  
"Star Ripper!" She sent out a jagged edged rapidly spinning ball of ki. It flashed through the sky on its way to hit him. Then, at what had to be the last moment he responded.  
  
"Masenko!" He sent his own ball of energy at the Star Ripper. They collided in midair and exploded.  
  
What surprised Ichigo, however, was not that he destroyed her attack, but he had managed to keep his other attack following her. In the moments that she had watched her attack explode, the ki blasts had caught up. Ten or twenty of the small blasts hit her.  
  
In the split second that the sky turned white with light and smoke, Ichigo felt her left leg get grabbed.  
  
"What?" she wondered aloud a moment before be hurled into the ground.  
  
"Tsuihidan!" the man screamed as he sent two comets of energy at her.  
  
Ichigo got up and started to fly in an attempt to get away from the balls of energy.  
  
"AAAAHHHH!!" she screamed as the green man appeared right in front of her. She pulled up to hit him and the comets hit her in the back.  
  
KA-WHAP, KA-WHAP!  
  
Her hair singed. She could smell it burning. But before she could get her barring and find the green man back a fist hit her in the face. Her scouter over her right eye shattered and a fragment got caught in her eye.  
  
Now she couldn't see, her left arm was useless, all of the armor on her back was gone, and her face was bleeding. She couldn't understand how he was beating her so thoroughly.  
  
She saw him out of her left eye.  
  
"Blaze" She screamed as she sent everything she had left into a one handed beam of fire. Amazingly it hit and blew most of the purple clothing off of the green man. Now he looked mad.  
  
"MASENKO!" he screamed.  
  
'That attack again?' She quickly dodged it and flew in to hit him with a Ki Punch.  
  
THUD! The attack landed against his shoulder, crushing and deeply bruising his arm while throwing him to the side.  
  
'Yes! I can beat him!' she thought.  
  
That was when the Masenko hit her in the back of her right leg and sent her spinning straight into the ground.  
  
She bounced twice and slowly got up.  
  
"BASTARD!!! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!!!!!"  
  
"Oh right, you and what army is going to come beat me up?" he replied smugly. Why don't you try and dodge this!"  
  
"Makankosappo!" the man screamed as he fired the spinning beam.  
  
She desperately fired a Star Ripper at the beam as it raced towards her.  
  
WOOM! The beam destroyed the ball and continued towards her at a furious pace.  
  
"AH NO!! Ki WALL!!!" she screamed as she put her right hand out at a perpendicular angle to the beam and created a plane of ki energy.  
  
WHOOOOOSH!!!! The beam hit her hand and exploded throwing her back several hundred feet.  
  
Her hand was bloody and burned. She tried to flex her fingers and realized that several of the bones in her hand and wrist were broken.  
  
'Ouch that stings!' Ichigo was completely humiliated. She shouldn't have been beaten so easily. The green man was right. She was going to have to retreat. This was not her mission. If she were to save her people she couldn't die in an attempt to teach someone not to lie to her.  
  
Ichigo climbed back into her ship and set it to find some inhabited planet while she was in the regeneration tank.  
  
Piccolo the 3rd. watched the ship depart. He wondered why he had been told to allow someone that dangerous and powerful to escape, but he had listened to his father (Dende). He also was quite happy that he had not had to lie to her. There were no full-blooded Saiyans left, and everything else had been true. Even if he had left out some details. * * *  
  
Well there you go. One more chapter to read. 7 should be up shortly. Please review.  
  
The Smooster 


	7. Snooping in Secrets

Chapter 7 Snooping in Secrets Wednesday June 11, 9am.  
  
"KIAH!" Roshi yelled as he sent a Ki supplied shockwave in all directions, knocking the training droids back against the far wall.  
  
"You spiked up to 35,000 there Roshi, but before you built up the energy for the Kiah, the scouter couldn't even detect you, even when you were beating the crap out of my droids with your fists." Slip reported.  
  
As none of the droids got up after being smashed into the walls of the gravity room, Roshi decided that he had had enough "active" training for the day.  
  
"Just a second." he said as he focused himself. "What is the reading right now?"  
  
"Nothing why?"  
  
Roshi then fired a small Kamehameha at the largest droid. The droid exploded into a billion bits of molten metal.  
  
"Uhhh, it beeped, but never registered your level."  
  
"Try now," Roshi said as he released as much Ki as he could.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  
  
"AHH!!, It hit 52,000! no 55,000! Wow and you didn't even take very long to release that energy!"  
  
'Sure,' Roshi thought. 'I just hope it is enough.'  
  
"How did you do that?"  
  
"I just released as much potential Ki as I could as fast as I could."  
  
"Potential Ki? What do you mean?" Slip asked as she started picking up the pieces of the droids.  
  
"Well, Ki can be classified four ways according to my father. The ways are Normal, Potential, Apparent, and Real."  
  
"Normal Ki is the level that one is at in a normal fighting condition."  
  
"Potential Ki is the maximum amount of Ki one can release through concentration."  
  
"Apparent Ki is the amount of energy that a scouter or person can sense coming off of another person."  
  
"Real Ki is the actual amount of Ki a person has at any given moment. During the last few sessions I have been attempting to remain at my normal fighting strength while giving off a apparent strength of the average human. So my Real Ki was probably around 36,000 or so when making my attacks. The rest of the time it was very low, like around 5,000. Since I only raised my Ki for the split seconds of the attack."  
  
"Cool, hmmmm, I wonder how you do that... Would you wear a brain wave scanner and heart monitor during you next session?"  
  
"Uh, why?"  
  
"PLEEEEEEAAAAAASSE!!!!"  
  
"Oh... ah... well, I guess."  
  
"OH thank you! Now I might get some real information. This is cool."  
  
Roshi sat deep in thought as Slip hooked him up to about a ga-zillion different monitors. He was actually surprised at how fast his training was progressing. After telling Slip his training plans on Saturday night, he had actually only been training for four days. His maximum power level had gone up from the mid-forty thousand range up to the upper fifty thousand range just by figuring out how to better focus his mind. He had been working on his serenity, as his father had called it. "Calm as the Sky and fast as Lightning," his father had said. Roshi thought he was starting to show some real control.  
  
"OUCH!" His thoughts were interrupted when Slip slapped a suction cup thing with tons of little tiny pins on the center of his chest. "What the heck is that thing for? It hurts!"  
  
"Roshi would you grow up it only has a few needles on it. Sheesh you act like it will kill you or something." Slip said as she quickly slapped another one onto his shoulder.  
  
"Hey! That's enough of those little suction cup things!" Roshi said as he jumped out of his chair.  
  
"Please? Just one more. These things are sorta like an advanced EKG sensor. Only one more come on!"  
  
Roshi grimaced and sat back down. 'Oh well, at least she might learn something.' He thought as he returned to his thoughts.  
  
Like usual, it was a bit hard to accept that his father had been right yet again. Not only had he been able to increase his strength while keeping the scouter from sensing him as easily, but he had also started to be able to sense other things much more clearly.  
  
He was glad, because it now seemed as though he was really going to have a fight on his hands. Since Slip was still calibrating her gadgets, Roshi let his mind wander back and recall the conversation from the previous night.  
  
~~~  
  
"Is Roshi there?" He asked to start off the call  
  
"Yeah, I'm here?" Roshi replied.  
  
"Good, I hope you have been training. The girl showed up here today and I had to fight her. Unless you have been training the girl will beat you."  
  
"WHAT!" Slip exclaimed.  
  
"Piccolo, why do you say she will beat me?'  
  
"She was at about the same level you were at the last time we sparred. I beat the stuffing out of her. Which means since she claims to be a Saiyan, she will most likely be a lot harder for you to beat. She is also far more aggressive than you, and her special attacks are more dangerous."  
  
"What do you mean more dangerous?" Slip demanded. "I mean, doesn't Roshi know just about every ki attack?"  
  
Roshi laughed. "Um no, not even close. I know the majority of attacks used by our ancestors, but that is really only a small fraction of what people can and do do with ki."  
  
Piccolo shook his head. "Correct, anyway, she has two attacks that could cause you problems. So watch out for these. In one, she charges her hand with ki energy and delivers an attack which is very much like, but not nearly as powerful as, Goku's famed Dragon Punch."  
  
"Yikes, that could hurt."  
  
"It did, I was mostly toying with her, but she connected once and turned my shoulder into mush, I had to regenerate that arm after the fight.  
  
"What?!?!!"  
  
"Exactly, the only other time I have ever needed to regenerate, was when you hit me with that blasted Kamehameha last time we spared."  
  
"Hey, it is not my fault you dodged my Masenko and ran right into the Kamehameha."  
  
"I KNOW! But listen, this attack hurts a lot worse because it pushes her ki into your body where it causes residual damage. You can't regenerate, so I would have a supply of Senzu beans."  
  
"Right"  
  
"The other attack creates a cone of super heated plasma that shoots out of her hand. It will burn your skin right off if you are not careful. So watch it."  
  
"Ok, any other attacks?"  
  
"Yeah, she has a ki ball thing, but a Masenko blows it up and it never got close to me." Piccolo paused for a moment and then realized something. "Wait, we are forgetting her biggest threat. She still has her tail. When is the next full moon?"  
  
Slip quickly called up a calendar and looked at it. "Um, the full moon is on Monday, so if memory serves the day before and after also have enough of a full moon to cause the Ouzaru transformation."  
  
Piccolo nodded and replied, "If she shows up before Sunday, you could really be in for it. Oh, and as you may know, I have some of the first Piccolo's memories that my father thought were important. So let me tell you what to do when she gets to earth."  
  
As Kami, Dende had absorbed all of Piccolo's memories when he died. Namekians could share memories through telepathy and both Piccolo (the 3rd) and Nail had learned Piccolo's fighting moves that way. Along with some other information.  
  
"Saiyan tails grow back, so you have to remove her tail and then cauterize the wound so that it never grows back."  
  
Slip butted in, "yeah, and bring me back her tail. That way I can analyze it and determine if she is really a Saiyan. This is a chance of a lifetime."  
  
"Right, anyway, she usually keeps her tail tightly wrapped around her waist, so removing it could be a challenge. If you do manage to remove it, you will most definitely make her furious, so be prepared to fight."  
  
"I will be"  
  
Piccolo gave Roshi a 'don't be so sure about it' look and shook his head. "Well that is more or less all I have to tell you. Good luck."  
  
"Ok thanks. When are you coming back to Earth?"  
  
"I'll be back with Nail next month, I'll talk to you then."  
  
"Ok thanks for the warning, later."  
  
~~~  
  
Slip was almost done hooking up the monitors to him. She was happily humming a tune while doing it. Roshi thought about how that conversation had ended on Tuesday and couldn't keep from being worried. He was relieved that it had been a full year and one half since his last sparring match with Piccolo. He had gotten a lot stronger since then, but if she was a full blooded or even partial Saiyan, he could be in for the fight of his life.  
  
Then again, while Piccolo's news hadn't been the greatest, it had given Roshi plenty to think about over the night. 'I hope she doesn't show up until after the full moon. She is looking for us for a reason. I still hope I won't have to fight her. The only sure fire way I know of that would force a fight would be if I was forced to rip her tail off of her.'  
  
And what if she arrived Sunday night? There wouldn't be time to get rid of her tail before she went Ouzaru. It would be a total disaster. 'Please don't let her show up Sunday or Monday or Tuesday.'  
  
"All done!" Slip cheerfully said as she connected on last wire to the suction cup thing on his back. Slip had been happy ever since Piccolo had suggested removing the girl's tail. Slip was keeping something from him... He didn't like it.  
  
"Why are you so happy? Why does the possibility that this girl is a Saiyan make you so happy?  
  
"Oh, you wouldn't understand."  
  
"Try me"  
  
"Well, it's too advanced for you."  
  
"Slip, I have a higher GPA then you do, now tell me."  
  
Slip gave him a look of pure venom and then decided that she could talk.  
  
"I go to a harder school then you. But, I guess you MIGHT be able to understand. We, We as in Capsule Corp have never seen DNA from a Saiyan female. This could be a great chance to learn about our own genetics!"  
  
"Uh, last time I checked you were a girl."  
  
She looked at him with a funny expression and toyingly said "Oh, and just how did you Check?"  
  
Roshi blushed a shade of crimson rarely found in nature. "Uh, You ah, have Boobs... they kinda cause your shirt to bulge out. There are guys in my class that would kill for a picture of you. Not to mention they like to talk about when you well, ah, have certain pieces of clothing on."  
  
Slip hung out with Roshi enough that most all of his classmates had seen her in just about every state of dress that was socially acceptable. To say that she was beautiful was an understatement.  
  
While, barley above average height, Slip had a supermodel's figure. Not only that, but it was a figure that she liked to flaunt as much as possible. She also had long flowing teal hair that was just a shade bluer and just a touch lighter then the original Bulma's. However, the most striking things about the girl were her huge eyes that shined like polished turquoise.  
  
Since she and Roshi were actually quite distantly related, and did hang out quite a bit, a lot of the world's tabloids went out of their way to put the two together as a romantically involved couple.  
  
The two of them spent plenty of time mocking those very tabloids. They were close, but far more along the lines of siblings then anything else. In fact, the thought of being romantically involved with Slip was rather sick to Roshi. Which is why he blushed so much when she stuck her chest into his face while asking him how he knew she was a girl.  
  
"You are so boyishly bashful that it is really quite cute. Ya know that?" Slip giggled as she went back to turn a monitor on.  
  
"Great, the only girl who finds me cute is my COUSIN!"  
  
"That's not what I heard Mariah say the last time I talked to her. She things you're all that AND a four course meal." Slip laughed.  
  
"Slip we are JUST FRIENDS!" Roshi yelled.  
  
"Oh I know! You like Kit! You want a nice furry bed warmer to keep you all nice and toasty in the winter. Bet she'd curl up into a nice cozy ball right beside you."  
  
"Slip that is degrading and racist. Would you please stop trying to marry me off to all my friends and just tell me why the thought of studying this Saiyan Girl's DNA is making you so giddy?"  
  
"Fine. I don't know about Kit, but Mariah really does think you're hot."  
  
"Slip!"  
  
"Well you are, anyway, I have looked at my genetic code, and yours, and Boxer's, and my mother's. But all the full Saiyan samples are from either Goku, or Vegeta."  
  
"Isn't it illegal to look at peoples genetic code with out their permission?"  
  
"The samples were taken when you were a baby. Your Parents gave us permission."  
  
"Oh, how nice of them... ah, so why is this girl's DNA so important?"  
  
"Well as you know, humans have 23 pairs of Chromosomes. Each parent supplies half of each pair to create an offspring. So if you remember your Biology classes, each parent has half of the alleles for each gene and at maximum, a 25% chance of passing on a specific trait."  
  
"Right, I remember Mendel's peas, and the stupid squares that we had to use to determine genotypes and stuff, so what." Roshi said as he realized that he had made the mistake of getting Slip talking about something scientific. She was going to talk his ear off now.  
  
"Well you know that the 23 chromosome is either X or Y, determining sex right"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And the Y is smaller and has less genes on it allowing for males to get some sex-linked problems such as color blindness.  
  
"Yes." He said as thinking that maybe if he only answered yes, she would get to the point.  
  
"Well, as you know, there are three specific Saiyan family lines now on earth. The Gohan III (Pan and Ubuu's son) + Chemise line which both of us are members, the Bikini family line which both Boxer and Tee are part of, and the descendents of the original Goten."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"If Bra had had children it would have been the only family line with a Saiyan X chromosome.  
  
"Huh?"... IDIOT!!! Now she is going into a new rant...  
  
"We have samples from all of those early Saiyans, the Saiyan X chromosome is even bigger then the human one, meaning they have some genetic traits that none of us show."  
  
"Oh, I am beginning to see why this girl would be important to your studies, you want to get a sample of her DNA to see what possible good or bad traits all of us have or do not have. Right?"  
  
PLEASE Dende make her shut up and let me train...  
  
"Yes, but there is more. There are some other very important differences between Human and Saiyan genetics. To start with, both of us have 24 chromosomal pairs."  
  
'What?' He thought, 'That shouldn't be possible.'  
  
"Uh, Slip, if I remember right, something with 24 pairs shouldn't be able to have offspring with something with 23 pairs, the matings shouldn't work."  
  
Slip winked at him. "Right and it wouldn't and shouldn't work, but it does."  
  
"Why?"  
  
'Note to self,' Roshi thought as soon as he had said the word why. 'NEVER ASK HER WHY YOU IDIOT!!!!'  
  
"Saiyans have an extra chromosomal pair between what would be the 15th and 16th human chromosomes. Since all the other chromosomes pair up, Humans and Saiyans are genetically compatible. Thankfully Saiyans have a much higher regenerative ability then humans, or the offspring would have ended up sterile."  
  
This intrigued Roshi, and since he actually didn't mind learning new stuff he decided he might as well get the most out of it. "Ok you lost me, care to say that again."  
  
"We are not sure, but we believe that when the Zygote goes through mitosis, the extra Saiyan chromosome duplicates itself making a full paired chromosome."  
  
'That would mean...'  
  
"So if it duplicates itself, then it is the exact same set of genes being passed down generation after generation?" Roshi asked tentatively.  
  
"Yep, essentially, you and I have the exact same Chromosomal pair in what we have labeled the Saiyan Chromosome."  
  
"So in different words, even though we call ourselves cousins, you actually are genetically practically my sister."  
  
"Well, no not exactly, because we have many different traits from different parentage in the other 23 chromosomes, but as far as what makes both of us think of ourselves as Saiyans, I guess you could say that we are very closely related."  
  
"Right, and you have to call me cute."  
  
"You still stuck on that? Well I happen to know several girls besides Mariah that think you're more than just cute. Maybe if she isn't good enough for you, you should ask one of them out." Slip said as she started giggling.  
  
"Gee, thanks. Just don't call me cute. Especially after what we have just talked about, it gives me the willies."  
  
"Hey its not as if you don't already treat me like a sister you never had."  
  
"Ah yeah right," Roshi said as he desperately tried to think of a way to change the subject. This conversation was even worse then the other one. Hmmm, she was actually getting to the point with the other one. "Ya know, its really weird, you've studied this stuff and you never told me anything. What all have you figured out?"  
  
"I figured out you don't like being teased about your multiple girlfriends!"  
  
"Slip! For the last time, Mariah is just a friend. Possibly more but right now just a friend. And Kit isn't interested in me even if I was interested in her so just leaver her out of this."  
  
Slip nodded. "Hmm probably good that. I was only teasing about you and her. It wouldn't work anyway."  
  
"What are you talking about now?" Roshi asked perplexed.  
  
"Well, I probably shouldn't be showing you this, but" Slip said as she started typing a long list of request codes and passwords.  
  
Something popped up on the screen. Roshi looked at it long enough to realize it was the first page of Kit's medical records.  
  
Not wanting to pry into her records Roshi glared at Slip. "Why do you have access to Kit's medical records?"  
  
"Well technically, I don't. But Capsule Corp takes care of all the medical stuff for all the Vulpines living on Earth, so I just hacked into the database."  
  
"Slip, that's illegal."  
  
"Yeah, so, no one is going to find out."  
  
"Slip, I found out. I am someone. I don't want to know anything about what is on those forms. If Kit or Mariah or anyone else I am friends with has a medical problem or anything else they can tell me about it. I don't feel right about using the trust people place on the Capsule Corp to go digging into their personal stuff." 'What could possibly be wrong with Kit?' Roshi wondered. 'She hates secrets. If there was anything important I would have thought she would have told us.'  
  
"Fine, not that it matters, says here that Kit is a perfectly healthy young woman. I just wanted to show you her DNA footprint. Vulpines have 28 chromosomal pairs. They aren't genetically compatible with Humans or Saiyans for that matter."  
  
Roshi suddenly had a lot of new insight into Kit. Kit went to dances, and social stuff. But her heart never seemed to be into it. 'I bet that is why she got so strange this past weekend. She saw Niko and Carge, and then Mariah and myself having so much fun as a couple and a quasy couple, and she felt left out. Literally left out.'  
  
"That must really suck for her." Roshi said.  
  
"Yeah, well, Saiyans would have been in an even worse boat. As far as we know, there are only about three other races out there that might be compatible with Saiyan genetics. And Humans seem to be the best of the lot.  
  
"How long has Capsule Corp been studying this stuff?"  
  
"Since Bulma's time. We have learned a lot and a lot of nothing at the same time. For instance, take the Super Saiyan transformation. We have no idea what actually causes it. We have determined which of these genes is responsible for the changes when one goes Super Saiyan, but we can't cause it to switch on in the lab."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because it is essentially a rapid mutation. If we tried to do it with a living person, it would probably kill them, and when we do it to a single cell, it just explodes and we don't get any information."  
  
"Ah, why isn't the gene already switched on? I mean, all of the people that those genes originally came from were Super Saiyans before they passed on the genes."  
  
"We don't know. It seems that if conditions are not right, it reverts back to its original form."  
  
"Interesting. Well you have me all hooked up, I guess I should go train. You might actually learn something from watching those monitors."  
  
'YES the I can go train now!!! She's done talking!!!!'  
  
"Right, and it will give you a chance to stop blushing like a CUTE rose every time I mention Mariah..." Slip broke out laughing hysterically.  
  
Roshi just meekly left the room thinking of how stupid he had been to even get her on to either of those conversations. His mind was also stuck on the formations of a plan to "hook" Kit up. If she wanted to play matchmaker with Mariah and himself, he could return the favor.  
  
* * *  
  
There we go. Chapter eight should be up soon. Hope you enjoy  
  
Ok, everyone go read "The Vegeta Redemption" By Jimbo. Very good. Interesting concept.  
  
Also, If you have not read and reviewed Kitsune Maxwell's "Glitch" do so, I would like to see more chapters and she won't write until she gets more reviews.  
  
And lastly, The Mystic Cetra has given me hints that she is tired of Writing. Now everyone deserves breaks now and then, but if you have at all enjoyed reading her fic "What happened when you Awoke" you should go giver her a nice keep at it review. Tell her why you like it and why she should keep writing. Even if she does take a break. ;)  
  
Well Now that I am done telling you to go read other stuff and review it I would just like to remind you to review this fic first. Your comments are helpful at modifying this fic and correcting errors. So Please Review!  
  
The Smooster 


	8. Tempting Fate

Chapter 8 Tempting Fate Thursday, June 12, 6:45 pm  
  
Roshi tossed his towel onto a chair and plopped down onto his bed and laid his head back. He held the small orange ball up so that it eclipsed one of his room's lights. Staring through the four stars of the Dragonball Roshi sighed. The young man had a lot going through his mind at the moment, and holding that single remaining Dragonball helped him to relax.  
  
Roshi tossed the ball up towards his ceiling and caught it. Goku Jr. had found the four star ball during the same Budoukai that Pan had claimed to have seen Goku at. In the four hundred years since that Budoukai, no one had found another one. The Dragon Radar always showed one ball. Just the one.  
  
Getting up from his bed, Roshi walked to his computer and sat down. "Open Electronic Journal files; Son Goku Jr. Search for any entry involving his finding the four star Dragonball." Roshi directed his computer.  
  
"One entry found."  
  
Roshi opened it and started reading.  
  
May 10, 891  
  
I have been thinking about this ball I found at the Budoukai. My sister has confirmed that it really is a real Dragonball. This has me thinking. I found the four star Dragonball. Goku's Dragonball. This is Goku's Dragonball. I have to tell myself this because it is a rather hard to believe coincidence. I have lived my entire life hearing of my namesake. I have seen millions of pictures of him. Is it really a coincidence that I find a Dragonball that is or was always associated with Goku, and then run into a man who looked exactly like what Goku looked like? He died almost 100 years ago. Or at least he went away. Grandma says it was him. No one can convince her that it was not. It does not matter that the man looked like he was my age. It does not matter that he should be almost 150. She believes it was him.  
  
I am starting to as well. He told me that the Dragonballs were taken away because Earth had grown to depend on them too much. He said that once Earth again depended on itself they would be back.  
  
I found the four star ball, how long until we find the rest? And just what did he mean by depend on itself? Nothing has threatened the Earth since Goku left with the Dragonballs. Is this a dire prediction that there will be a threat? Or is it just something else? I wish I had the rest of the Dragonballs so I could wish for understanding. Until then, I guess I will just have to ponder.  
  
* * *  
  
'Goku Jr. wrote that four hundred years one month and two days ago, and we still haven't found another Dragonball.' Roshi thought as he stared at the screen.  
  
Roshi walked over to one of his numerous shelves and looked at the various pictures and keepsakes that he kept in his personal shrine to his ancestors. 'The only reason I am training as hard as I am because there is a new threat coming to Earth. An actual threat is coming to Earth, and Buu is for the first time since Goku's time not here to deal with it.' Roshi sighed and collected his thoughts. 'I have read that journal entry enough to have practically memorized it over the years. If that was a prediction it was at least four hundred years in the making. I just hope I am doing enough training so that the prediction can come true and the Dragonballs actually have a chance to come back. Having them would make life so much simpler.' Roshi shook his head. 'Of course, it was thinking like that that got them taken away in the first place.'  
  
"You have an incoming phone call." His computer said to bring him out of his thoughts. Roshi put the Dragonball back onto its pillow in the alcove and looked at it for a few moments ignoring the computer.  
  
"Hi, Oh you want to talk to me? Let me check. Nope I guess I am not in here. Please leave a message and I will get back to you eventually," the computer toned before starting to record a message.  
  
"Hey, are you still alive? We've been trying to call you all week. I think this is the twentieth message I have left and I would have thought that you would have at least made the attempt to call me back." Kit's tone sounded rather annoyed.  
  
"Answer." Roshi spoke over the speakers as he quickly walked over and sat down. "Sorry, I'm here, just been a bit preoccupied lately. What's up?"  
  
"Ha..iii Roshiiii" Mariah said as her voice pitched up and got caught in her throat.  
  
Kit and Mariah sat staring at him through the video screen. Mariah was blushing quite heavily and even Kit had an odd look on her face.  
  
Mariah whispered something into Kit's ear and the two of them started laughing.  
  
"What?" Roshi asked naively.  
  
Kit shot him an odd look and then whispered something back to Mariah.  
  
"What? What the heck is so funny?"  
  
"Roshi do you always answer a vidphone in your underwear?" Kit asked finally.  
  
Roshi looked down at himself. "These are shorts, and no. I just got done training for the day and was relaxing." Roshi said as he sweat dropped and reached over to where he had placed his shirt. After pulling on the extremely loose fitting shirt he looked back to the screen. "So, what are you two conniving girls calling about?"  
  
Mariah put a hand over her chest and gave Roshi her best innocent look. "Us? Conniving? What would give you that idea?"  
  
"Well the fact that you two are together is proof enough for me. So, what's up?  
  
Kit glanced at Mariah and then at Roshi. "Mariah's blood pressure. Now I know why you wear such big, loose clothes all the time."  
  
This caused Mariah and Roshi to both turn several shades of red. "Well yeah. Given the way both of you two are drooling and carrying on, the only way to get girls off of me would be to rip them off with a pry-bar. Not to mention do you have any idea how vile girl slobber is? It has cooties and germs and millions of other nasty things in it. No, seriously, what's up?"  
  
"Girl slobber? Roshi that got old when we used to chase you boys around when we were ten." Mariah laughed.  
  
"Well he is a guy, you know." Kit joined in. "You can't expect his maturity to be bigger than his shoe size."  
  
"Yeah whatever, you guys are just saying that because you want me. I mean who wouldn't want me?" Roshi teased back.  
  
"Oh, and now the little boy is developing an ego. He must be taking lessons from Rock." Kit shot back.  
  
"No, he isn't quite as bad yet. He didn't follow his ego with a degrading comment." Mariah laughed.  
  
"That's because he lead off with it. Girl slobber, my tail!"  
  
"Ok! OK! Did you two just call me to pester me and make sure I was alive or is there actually a point to this conversation?"  
  
Mariah grinned from ear to ear. "Actually, yeah, I wanna show you something. Just a second, I'll be right back." She yelled as she ran off the screen.  
  
"Soo... What's up?"  
  
Kit rolled her eyes. "I'm not telling."  
  
"Oh, and here I thought you were Miss Honesty."  
  
"Yeah, but I also know the value of a good surprise. You will just have to wait for Mariah to get back."  
  
"Figures."  
  
"Coming from the a guy who has more secrets then a library of mystery novels, your goading really means nothing to me."  
  
"Ouch, that hurts."  
  
"Good!"  
  
A few minutes later Mariah came back minus her glasses. "I got contacts! My mom sold a bunch of her paintings to this art collector and she let me get contacts!" Mariah was just glowing.  
  
Roshi had always found her eyes to be expressive, even with her glasses. Now that she had contacts, Roshi could see just how beautiful her big golden-brown eyes really were.  
  
"You look really nice." He managed to spit out.  
  
Mariah blushed again. "I do? You really think so?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Oh, Roshi, thanks I was kind of worried. I've had glasses since I was six. I don't think I look like me without them on."  
  
"Well, you look really good."  
  
Mariah's smile probably couldn't get any bigger. "Oh, you have no idea how happy that makes me feel. Anyways, I have some more news. My mom and I are celebrating this Saturday, but I want to do something nice for you guys too. So how about we all go to a movie on me tomorrow before my mother locks away all the rest of the money in my college fund?"  
  
"Mariah, you don't have to do that. The movie sounds great, but you don't have to pay for us, especially for me."  
  
"But I want to. I know you don't need anyone to ever pay for you, but I think it would be nice for a change. So don't argue with me."  
  
"Ok fine. What time and where should I meet you?"  
  
"Kit's place. At around 6ish or so."  
  
"Ok, I'll be there."  
  
"Great! Well I have to go. Talk to you later!" Mariah said before ending the conversation. The screen went back to his normal desktop and then went black for energy conservation.  
  
"Wow, Mariah is really excited. I don't think I have seen her this happy in a while." Roshi said to himself as he stretched his arms out.  
  
Roshi leaned back in his chair and smiled. 'Well it's good for her.' Looking at his watch he laughed, 'Ok, wait about three minutes and Kit will be calling me back. Then I can do a little follow up on the stuff Slip showed me. I really shouldn't be digging, but what are friends for? Hmmm, maybe I should get Mariah involved. She would probably be all for hooking Kit up.'  
  
It took Kit closer to five minutes to call back.  
  
"Hi Roshi, so I was thinking... What is that smirk for?"  
  
Roshi leaned back in his chair. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about things."  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"Well, like how I really don't understand Mariah."  
  
Kit laughed, "Well that's the way the world is supposed to work. If you clueless guys actually understood us girls life would be boring and that would be no fun at all."  
  
"Yeah, well, I knew by the look on you face when Mariah was showing me her contacts that you would be calling back, so it is not like I can't predict you two. It is just, well, I can understand why she is happy to get her contacts, and why my opinion made her even happier, but I just can't really understand why she is so happy. I haven't seen her that gleeful in a long time."  
  
Kit shook her head slowly. "Roshi, that's because you want for nothing. Think about it for a moment. Have you ever wanted an object that you could not afford to buy or have made for you? I'm only talking about things here objects you can own. I mean, have you ever wanted something and been told no or had to save to get it?"  
  
Roshi immediately glanced over his shoulder at the Dragonball he had just place on it's pillow.  
  
"I see your point. The answer is yes, but the things that I can say yes to are unique and cannot be bought or made by just anyone. Where as Mariah can't afford things that I take for granted so something that means nothing to me means a lot to her."  
  
Kit grimaced. "Yes, but no. You are so clueless. Mariah is happy because yes, she got something she has wanted for a long time, but more so she is happy because she got it as a gift from her mother and it was because of her mother's work so it really isn't the contacts that she is happy about. They just make it all that much better."  
  
Roshi sighed. "Kit... I know this, I just said I don't, no, I can't understand her. The old saying says 'you need to walk a mile in their shoes', but I really cannot even begin to understand because of the gulf that separates us. I mean, little things like this remind me just how different our perspectives on the world really are."  
  
"Maybe you shouldn't be the only one who has to understand. If you actually opened up and let her in a bit she might be able to help you to reach that understanding." Kit said back.  
  
"Yeah, but I don't know."  
  
Kit rolled her eyes. "What is this? The great Son Roshi is afraid of something? What happened to the fearless guy who answered the phone in his underwear?"  
  
"Kit! These are shorts. They are not even boxer shorts they are just normal shorts."  
  
"Yeah, well you shouldn't do that. It's hard on poor Mariah's heart."  
  
"Gah! It is summer! Last time I checked there wasn't anything too illegal about a guy running around in only his shorts. Now if you or Mariah had answered the phone wearing only a pair of shorts then I could see reason to make a big deal out of it. I mean, it isn't like you two didn't see me in even less last weekend."  
  
"Roshi, you were under water. Nobody could see anything, and it wasn't the same."  
  
"Oh really? Why is that? I would thing being physically present would be more of a... ah... well I don't know, turn on; for lack of a better word."  
  
Kit blinked and shook her head slowly side to side. "Roshi are you totally oblivious? Do you not know what a mirror is?" Kit suddenly stopped and laughed, "wait that is being unfair. You are not the type of guy who preens himself so he can look a role he is not. So, I guess maybe you wouldn't have noticed."  
  
Roshi was loosing his patience. Kit was great when you needed an honest answer, but she could drag things on forever. "Notice what?"  
  
"Ok fine, let me be blunt with you. How fast do Saiyans gain muscle mass?"  
  
"I don't know, why?"  
  
Kit laughed. "Because last weekend you looked like a highly toned athlete. You had muscle definition but not bulk. Now you look like you attached yourself to a steroids pump and selected inflate. Just what kind of training are you doing?"  
  
"Um I guess they are rather intensive, but I never thought about that. It is really that noticeable of a change?"  
  
Kit slapped herself on the forehead and leaned back in her chair. "Kami, help me. Roshi did all your gray matter seep out of your head and get turned into meat? You are normally a lot faster on the uptake. Yes, it was noticeable. When you laughed and reached over to grab your shirt the muscles on your side and stomach rippled! Muscles are not supposed to ripple noticeably! Fat people like Slade have big gross spare tire ripples, but you have like no body fat what so ever, and when your abs contracted as you moved THEY RIPPLED! Yes, I would say it is noticeable! It's down right nasty!"  
  
"Great."  
  
"Which is why when you and Mariah get done watching the movie tomorrow night you should ask her over to your place and let her watch you train, or maybe just do something physical with her. You really need to drop the klutz act."  
  
"Yeah, but what if she says no?"  
  
Kit mouth fell open and then clicked shut audibly. "Says no? NO?! Roshi, your brains really did ooze out of your head. I mean you aren't my type, but what girl wouldn't want to date you? You're a SON and you're nice, and sweet, and smart, and tall, and dark, and you're athletic, and the list goes on and on and on forever. How could you possibly think she would say no?!"  
  
Roshi smiled inwardly. 'Hook, line, and sinker. Sorry Kit, but you fell for it and I'm going to turn the tables now.' "I don't"  
  
"Then what are you afraid of?!"  
  
"I don't know, but I strikes me as odd that you can list off all those wonderful reasons why someone would like to date me yet can claim that I am not your type? Just what is your type? Short, scrawny, dumb, and ugly?"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Ok, then hypothetical here, just why aren't I your type?"  
  
Kit blinked a few times and looked like she was trying to collect her thoughts. "Roshi you... My type is... well, you wouldn't understand."  
  
"No seriously, why not tell me?"  
  
"Roshi, it's complicated and well..." Kit hesitated.  
  
'Sorry Kit but,' "What, I'm not Vulpine enough for you? I bet you wouldn't have such a big problem with my rippling abs if they were covered in fur."  
  
Kit's eyes bulged out and she almost jumped out of her chair to defend herself. "Roshi! How can you say that? You make me sound like some racist bigot like Rock! It has nothing to do with that!"  
  
"Cut the crap Kit, you make a lousy liar, especially when I have you cornered. It has everything to do with that."  
  
"What!?!"  
  
"It has everything to do with that because you, Keiko Nny Kitsune want kids and all of Carge's flirting, or Gryph's wooing, or the list of whatever I supposedly have is not going to do that for you."  
  
Kit fell back into her chair, "What? How?..."  
  
"It's really simply actually. First, you are an only child which from what I can dig up on your people is about as common as bird's teeth. Second, you volunteer at that orphanage all the time. Third, you baby sit about ten different kids on most weekends. And finally, you want to get a scholarship so you can go to college to become a teacher. You were just talking about how Mariah wanted to have contacts, but is now really happy because she now feels she earned them. Well, you want kids and you want your own kids. Simple as that."  
  
Kit sat blinking stupidly for several moments. "No, not that, well yes that, but how did you know the other part, you know the fact that my people can't..."  
  
"...Can't have kids with Humans? Oh, well you can thank Slip. She has access to almost every project run at Capsule Corp. She also doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'confidential'. To make a play on her name, Slip let some stuff slip in a conversation, and I put two and two together. Or am I wrong about you wanting your own kids?"  
  
"No, but well, considering how much I pick on you to come clean and tell people who you really are this is difficult. That's sort of our dirty little secret. There are enough people who already think of us as just a step better then animals that if they knew that, it would cause problems."  
  
"Kit, you don't need to apologize. It actually makes sense and in a way explains a lot about you."  
  
Kit's eyes half closed as they narrowed. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Well, in a way, I guess I have always thought of you as being just one of the guys."  
  
Kit rocked back, "Just one of the guys?" She asked putting emphasis on the last word. "You had better explain that one. I mean, Carge calls me a Barbie doll one week and now you said you always thought of me as being male? The two don't mix and I'm not sure which of you is the bigger loon."  
  
"Kit, I'm being serious. To me you have always been a good friend who acted more like a guy with a girl's point of view on most things."  
  
Kit interrupted him before he could continue. "Most things? Do you want be to start shoveling the dirt back in and packing it down? Cause your hole is deep enough to bury you in it."  
  
"Gah, how do I explain this?" Roshi wondered aloud. He realized that he was eating his own foot and he didn't like the taste. "Ok, here, you said so yourself. I am the 'great Son Roshi'," Roshi said putting quotation marks in the air with his fingers. "You asked me what girl wouldn't want to date me? Well think back to when you first moved to Satan City. Some people tried to befriend you because you were the newest neat thing. Some people decided you were different and that was bad so they feared you and stayed away. Others like Rock tried to one up you by making fun of you. I've had that sort of thing my whole life. As a kid I never knew whom to trust because everyone either treated me like a pariah, or tried to use me. Other then my cousins you were the first person whom I ever met who heard the name Son Roshi and looked to the person rather then the name and everything that comes with it."  
  
Roshi continued, "Then we grew up, and people changed. To tell you the truth the klutz act is my protection from normal people. Especially girls. Because well, when I meet girls I can see it in their eyes. They hear my name and by the time they figure out who I actually am they have envisioned their wedding, named the kids they will have with me, and planned all the ways they can use my fame and money. Well you didn't change. You stayed neutral and well more like a guy. Only better, 'cause you didn't become jealous of me."  
  
Roshi sighed, "Guys go into more or less two camps. The jealous and the non-caring. And all of them get jealous occasionally. You saw how Carge puffed up on that mountain by the pools last Saturday. If he knew who I really was he would become so sure I was out to steal Niko from him that he would never calm down and be himself around me."  
  
Kit's eyes had softened while Roshi spoke but she kept quiet.  
  
"I don't know, I guess I can't even say you are like a guy because you are just, well, you. But what I can say is that you and my cousin Slip are the only two girls who have never looked at my name rather then who I really am. I mean, look at the way Niko acted up at the Lookout. And she is one of my better friends! I just, I get so sick of people treating me like I'm nothing more then a piece of meat, and I guess you always knew that it couldn't be so you just let yourself be a true friend for who I was and not what I was. Like I said, it makes sense now that I know why."  
  
Kit laughed. "Yes, it does, but you shouldn't downplay being a piece of meat so much. Because, oh what a piece of meat you make. And you are right. If you were a Vulpine I could just eat you up you scrumptious succulent piece of man-meat you. Mmmmnnnnn..." Kit said making her voice as sultry as she could before licking her lips and running her long tongue over her teeth before letting it play across the tip of one of her long pointed "fang" canine teeth.  
  
Roshi shuddered. "Kit, you're scaring me. Don't ever do that again."  
  
Kit laughed. "Sorry, but I had to get you back for calling me male. I understand what you mean but there is something totally unsexy about being called a guy. The term Vixen is supposed to have this allure to it. Even if that allure is dead on you." Kit smiled.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Don't mention it. But mister! If you think Mariah is after your name and isn't your friend because of what she sees in you, then you are doing her a great big disservice!"  
  
Roshi sighed. "I know, she doesn't now that she knows me. But you remember back when you first moved here. We both befriended you but whenever I was around Mariah would disappear or just gape at me like I was an aberration or something. It took her almost a full year to actually say more then three words to me. And I still catch her staring at me from time to time. It bugs me. It's like she is trying to convince herself that I am really there or something."  
  
Kit burst out laughing. "Just when I start to think you are a manipulative genius you go and prove that you're just clueless and lucky! I can explain this. You said it yourself; you didn't know whom to trust. Mariah said that back then she was truly an invisible kid. You had never even spoken to her. You were friends with everyone, yet at the same time friends with no one. Then all of a sudden you descended from your pinnacle and you noticed her. She claims she was so shy she almost wet herself when you first started hanging out with her and I. She didn't know what to say so she said nothing."  
  
"Yeah, well what about now?" Roshi asked.  
  
Kit giggled. "Now she stares for a completely different reason. Which is why you should ask her to the summer gala dance during the Mid-summer Festival. It is also why you should let her see the real you. I mean there are some things that she is not ready for yet, but she deserves the truth. Oh, and speaking of the truth. You were wrong; I'm not an only child. I was the first of a set of paternal twins. My sister Maiko was born five minutes after me, and she died when we were four. You now know two of my dirty little secrets. Maybe Mariah should know a few of yours."  
  
Roshi shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."  
  
Kit nodded. "It's ok, I still miss her, but it is ok. We really can't change that now. What you can change is what Mariah knows about you.  
  
Roshi grimaced. "I know, but I don't think I'm ready to tell her."  
  
Kit sighed. "Well don't wait to long. Eventually fate will force your hand. My people have a saying that goes: When fate forces a hand it often bites the hand it forces. Beware Fate's bite, as it has very large teeth and very sharp teeth. When it bites it bites hard and never lets go for anyone or anything." Kit stretched out a little. "Don't let fate bite you Roshi. I've always thought the best time for the truth is the present. Wait to long and it will bite you."  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, somewhere in space  
  
Beep! The regeneration tank beeped softly. Inside Ichigo woke and immediately fought the urge to barf as some of the viscous fluid from the tank had managed to seep into her mouth.  
  
'Ugh I know that the tank has to wake me to assure that I am healed, but I would do anything to get to sleep until long after the fluid is drained away.' She thought to herself as the special fluid drained from the tank.  
  
Yanking her nose plugs and small breathing device off, Ichigo was hit by another waive of nausea. She had for some reason always mentally associated people getting out of regeneration tanks with babies being born. The thick viscous fluid now coated her body from head to toe with a slime that was someplace between syrup and runny snot in consistency. To make matters worse, it even smelled like afterbirth as far as Ichigo could recall from her few trips with Momo or some other person to the Maternity wards.  
  
But the worst was the taste. Bitter brine water hit her the moment she woke. This was soon followed by an indescribably metallic flavor that just hung in her mouth. Both of these flavors then mixed with an acid tang of a sharp wine and the sickly sweet of over-ripe fruit.  
  
Combined with the texture and smell of the fluid, it made Ichigo gag.  
  
'Ick, I'm all slimy from that stupid tank. I hate using those things. They smell bad, and it takes forever to wash that slime off. Auugh I can't believe that I got beat up. That green guy was a lot stronger then my scouter indicated. I even have holes in my skinsuit. She thought as she stuck a finger through one of the many holes in the flexible spandex-like bodysuit she wore under her armor. This fabric is supposed to be practically impossible to destroy.'  
  
Stopping in front of the mirror she was surprised at just how much of her armor had been destroyed. She practically had none left over either shoulder, and it was cracked and broken all over the place along her entire back.  
  
'Guess I need a new suit of armor,' she thought as she striped out of the ruined clothing and walked to the shower unit. 'It got beat up almost as bad as I did.'  
  
Catching a glance at herself one last time she shuddered. 'Yuck, I look and smell like a newborn baby. I need to get this crap cleaned off of me.'  
  
Being who she was, producing an heir was an expected duty rather then a dreamful option. While Ichigo didn't mind children, the thought of giving birth was caught in her mind someplace between grossly revolting and terrifying. Since neither was a thought that Saiyans were encouraged to have on or for anything, Ichigo tried not to think about it. Besides, she was only sixteen; hopefully, she would have several years (like forever) and then a good nine months to let the idea grow on her. Stopping near the shower, Ichigo grabbed a q-tip like thing that sucked the fluid out of her ears. Her ears popped and she could suddenly hear clearly again.  
  
"If I never have to use a regeneration tank again it will be way too soon." She wiggled her previously broken fingers. "Well I guess it is better then having a broken hand, but not by much." Ichigo said to herself as she started the shower and got in. "Aahhhh that feels good" Ichigo said aloud as she started using her tail to scrub down her back. "I think I'll take a long shower."  
  
After her shower, she examined herself in the mirror. After turning every which way and stretching to see how well she had healed she was quite happy to not see any new scars. Her singed hair had also grown back to its normal unmanageable length. All was as it should be. It was said that scars are the body's way to remind the brain that it had been stupid. Ichigo would much prefer not having any physical reminders for anyone that she had ever made a mistake.  
  
Ichigo decided to wear the light blue armor set this time. She liked how it matched her eyes. It also had a really cool white and blue cape that would make her look all that much more imposing to most of the people she would run into.  
  
After dressing she went directly to the workout room to determine just how much her power had gone up.  
  
"Computer give me a scouter reading"  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  
  
"Your maximum power level was 39,800," it reported.  
  
'Wow an increase of over 10,000! I must have been hurt more than I thought.'  
  
She looked around and thought about trying to learn some of the attacks that the green man had used. But the only attack that she was impressed with was that Kame-something-or-other that she had not actually seen until after he had fired the blasted thing. 'Drat, and it was such an effective attack,' she thought as she swung her arm around in memory as she left the room.  
  
'Now, where am I?' She thought to herself as she went to the bridge of the ship. 'I hope the people on this planet know where the Saiyans went. I really don't want to get into any more fights.'  
  
"Computer, give me a scouter reading of this planet."  
  
"There are no power levels above 10,000. The planet has a population of 2.5 billion people with an average power of 1,026."  
  
'Great, the computer only lists it off like that if EVERYONE on the planet exhibits some ki control. This might be a fight in the making. I had better go eat,' she thought to herself.  
  
She left the bridge and went to the ship's galley where she had left all the food that she had stolen from the weaklings at Namek.  
  
"WHAT!!!!" She screamed when she opened the door and found six or seven small pinkish purple aliens eating her food.  
  
"THAT'S MY FOOD!!!" She screamed as she ran to hit one of the aliens.  
  
The alien quickly put two fingers to its forehead and disappeared. Soon afterward all of the rest did the same thing.  
  
Ichigo looked around. They had taken both of the cows from the cooler and eaten every edible part. The bones littered the floor. Most of the tomatoes and potatoes were also eaten.  
  
As she looked at the room, one of the aliens appeared, grabbed a potato and vanished before Ichigo could even move to attack it.  
  
"My food! I didn't even get to eat it. Those aliens! how did they get onto my ship? How did they eat all my food. Why is everything going wrong? I DON'T WANT TO EAT SUPPORT BARS!!!!!! It is just not fair, not fair at all!"  
  
She was well into a good pout when another of the aliens appeared. This one was ancient looking with almost white-pink skin practically hanging off its frame.  
  
"You Saiyans eat a lot. We were trading food. We did not mean to be discovered. Here is the food that we are trading with. Goku liked it when he stayed with us after beating Frieza. We hope you do too." Then he was gone. He did leave a mountain of weird noodles and meats and various other edible looking objects.  
  
"He gave me more food than they took." Ichigo said aloud as she realized what had happened. The whole thing bothered her. She decided that she wouldn't attack this planet unless no one else could give her information. The weird Aliens had given her food, and it would be a breach in her honor to attack them now. So, she ate and found that it was quite good.  
  
"How did they know I was a Saiyan? And who is this Goku? They said that he beat Frieza... That is a Changeling name, but Goku is not a Saiyan name."  
  
"Wait! The green man said that Kakarott had beat Frieza! That is a Saiyan name. Maybe these weird people gave him a new name. But the Green man said that the planet had blown up and that would have killed Kakarott if he had actually been fighting... I wonder" Ichigo had a habit of talking to herself when she was pondering out really confusing problems. It helped her to relax and take the time to actually think them through.  
  
"I have been here for almost a week and I have seen no sign of the Changelings. I guess that the stories of a Saiyan killing them are true. But then, where are the Vegeta Saiyans. They should have taken everything over after they had killed off their masters. It just didn't make sense." Ichigo chewed on her lip for a moment.  
  
"Computer, do the people on this planet have communications ability?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Patch me through to their government."  
  
"One moment please."  
  
An alien appeared on the screen. "May I help you?" it asked.  
  
"I'm looking for the Saiyans that killed Frieza. Would you tell me where to locate them?"  
  
The receptionist was visibly shocked at the question. She also avoided the question when she answered.  
  
"Killed Frieza? According to my records, the only Frieza I know of is the planet Frieza 79, are you sure you know what you are looking for?"  
  
"FINE!!" Ichigo was getting very sick of people either not telling her what they knew or not knowing anything at all. It would take time to land and beat the truth out of these people, and they would probably just disappear again. "Just tell me where that planet is!"  
  
"Ok transmitting location now" "Thanks."  
  
It took almost a full day to get to Frieza 79.  
  
Along the way Ichigo trained and ate, and tried to sleep. She was having bad dreams. The longer her mission took the worse they got. She just couldn't help thinking about her father, and her friends. She wondered how Ringo and Sakura were. She hoped that they were still alive. Ichigo just couldn't be positive anymore. The people here were not telling her the truth, but she didn't understand why. Were the Vegeta rebels so terrible that the normal people would say anything to get her to go away? No, that couldn't be. If the rebels were horrid beings, the green man would have told her exactly where to find them. No, it was more likely that the rebels were all dead, and that the people were afraid of her.  
  
That night Ichigo found herself hanging upside down by her tail swinging back and forth. Her arms and legs crossed. After a bit she opened her eyes. 'Oh, this whole mission is hopeless,' she thought. "I can't sleep, I can't relax, and I can't find what I'm looking for."  
  
"Approaching destination." The computer reported to break her out of her thoughts.  
  
"Computer, give me a scouter reading on this planet."  
  
"There are 1,158 life forms with power levels under 1,000. There are 894 life forms with power levels between 1,000 and 5,000. There are 348 life forms with power levels between 5,000 and 10,000. There are..."  
  
"Stop. What is the highest power level and where is it located?" She said to cut it off. The computer could go on forever some times.  
  
"The highest power level on the planet is 23,400 and is located at a large facility in the northern section of the planet."  
  
"Land near that life form."  
  
There was no point in wasting any time. If her ship's scouter was off as badly as her now broken personal one had been on Namek, she would surely die. Otherwise, she would get as much information as she could from these people.  
  
Ichigo got out of the ship and started to fly towards the multi- towered dilapidated complex that every living creature on this planet seemed to live around. Her new scouter indicated that the strongest power level was someplace inside the complex.  
  
She landed on a platform and entered the building. An orange man with a power level of 18,400 appeared.  
  
"Are you here to join the legions of Frieza?" he asked.  
  
Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at him and looked him over. He was not wearing a scouter, and probably had no idea how strong she was.  
  
"No, I am looking for the Saiyans who killed Frieza." "Ha ha ha ha ho, you are quite funny! All of those worthless monkeys have long since died. There are thankfully none of their worthless kind left in the universe."  
  
"Is that so." Ichigo said as she ran one hand through her hair pointed at herself with the other and loosened and then waved her tail.  
  
The orange man turned white. His mouth fell open and he fell to his knees.  
  
"Oh! Please! I meant no disrespect. Please don't kill me. I was only serving these people because they said Frieza would come back and kill me!!"  
  
Ichigo was shocked. She had never seen such a powerful warrior show so much fear. There were only a hand-full of Saiyans, possibly some 50,000 or so, which would actually be stronger then him. Yet he was acting like he was nothing compared to her and he didn't even know her power level. It made no sense.  
  
"Take me to your superiors."  
  
The man quickly snapped to attention and started walking.  
  
"Right away!" he said in military precision.  
  
She followed him to a large room, which looked as if it had once been a control room for a galactic conquest.  
  
"Piako! Sir! there is a Saiyan here to see you!"  
  
The orange man addressed a purple lizard man. The lizard man gave him a look of pure hatred and then turned to look at Ichigo. He was wearing an old style scouter. Ichigo heard it beep several times. He looked absolutely terrified.  
  
"Ta.. ta... the the... sc... sc... ou... outer scouter s sss s says you have a power level of 32,000 just standing there. I if if ih If history proves true that would mean that your true power level could be anywhere from gulp, 32,000 to several million and I wouldn't know the difference until you killed me."  
  
Ichigo was so shocked at the fear coming off a man who could easily have been considered her equal in power a week ago that she didn't even register what he had said.  
  
"I don't have time for this." She said. "Tell me what exactly happened to Frieza."  
  
The purple man looked at her and slowly opened his mouth to talk. "A test? We don't know what happened to our master Frieza..."  
  
Pzzzt!  
  
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!"  
  
These people served the Changelings. Ichigo could freely kill them without feeling any regret. The mans prattle had been stopped when she vaporized ten of the lower powered solders and blew a hole in the wall.  
  
The purple man was on his knees begging for his life.  
  
"Frieza and Cold never came back from Earth! We don't know what happened. The Saiyans that supposedly lived there must have killed him! We don't know! Please have mercy on us! We beg you!"  
  
Earth! EARTH! I'M an IDIOT! Ichigo forgot all about the trash that followed the Changelings and flew as fast as possible back to her ship.  
  
She didn't get very far. A big greenish blue man with black hair stopped her. Her scouter said that he had a power level of 22,490.  
  
"I'm not fooled by you! You're not nearly as strong as the rest of these fools think."  
  
"Oh really and what make you think that?"  
  
"You have a tail!" The man said as he suddenly transformed into this gargantuanly hideous beast and threw a Ki blast.  
  
Ichigo took one look at her scouter and knew she would win. His power had increased to 29,850. It was a good jump in power, but not good enough.  
  
"All Saiyans have tails you idiot!" She screamed as she used the tail in question to catch and throw back the man's Ki ball.  
  
"What!" he screamed right before he flew into his own attack.  
  
KA-BlUUUIE! The ball blew up in his face.  
  
Not wanting to waste any more time with him she quickly kicked him in the back of the head and then flew around him to give him a chop to the neck, which crushed his spine and killed him.  
  
'OOOH that stings,' she thought as she wrapped her tail back around her waist. If that attack had been any stronger, she would not have been able to have caught it, and THAT would have really hurt. Ichigo made yet another mental note to be more careful with her tail. It was too easy to hurt. She then returned to her ship.  
  
"Computer, do you have the location of Earth on file from that ship I docked with last week?"  
  
"Affirmative"  
  
"Set course at maximum possible speed."  
  
"It makes so much sense. The weaklings are from Earth! That's why I ignored it. But that green guy said that the planet that the Humans lived on could not be successfully attacked. The Saiyans must have conquered that planet and are using the Humans as slaves! That's why the Green man didn't want me to kill them. He was probably a slave too. He was probably afraid that one of the supposed Super Saiyans would kill him because of me. And if the rebel Saiyans are as strong as everyone here seems to think they are I might be able so save my people yet!" Ichigo was very excited. She had finally figured out were the Vegeta Saiyans had gone.  
  
She decided to spend the next two days training. The computer had told her that she would arrive at Earth late Sunday afternoon by their calendar, and she intended to be even stronger when she got there. It would finally be her day of reckoning.  
  
* * *  
  
This chapter was edited by Kitsune Maxwell. I will owe her planets by the time this fic is done. I think you all should go review her fics and poetry so that I don't owe her quite so much. Oh, and because they are really good stuff!  
  
Well, this was the last of the major revisions for a while, 9-15 are largely unchanged so they (should) be up within the next week.  
  
Thanks for reading, Please Review. Your opinions are very valuable to me. 


	9. Chores and things

Chapter 9 Chores and things.  
  
Earth, Early Sunday Morning.  
  
Son Roshi's alarm clock went off right at 6:00 A.M. He quickly slapped it to shut it off. Then thanked Kami for the millionth time that most of the appliances in his house had been specially made by the Capsule Corp to be "Saiyan Resistant", as Slip called it.  
  
After quickly pulling on a dogi he quickly went to the window and opened it. He slowly floated out backwards and eased the window closed.  
  
'Good', he thought. 'I didn't wake anyone up.' Then he turned around to leave.  
  
"AHHHH! MOM!"  
  
His mother was sitting in a lawn chair below his window. It looked like she had been waiting for him to try to leave.  
  
"Now just where do you think your going young man!" She demanded as she got out of the chair.  
  
"Ah, to Slip's to ah to train. Dad said I had to, it is part of my punishment." Roshi replied as he lowered himself form his second story window to land in front of his mother.  
  
"Punishment my foot! You're not being punished, you're getting the summer off! Well I've had just about enough of your laziness. You're on your summer vacation and I am going to get some work out of you. I don't care if Mr. Satan himself comes back from the grave to train with you! You're not leaving until you get your chores done! YOU UNDERSTAND ME??!!!"  
  
Roshi's mother had been raised to believe that Mr. Satan was the greatest man ever, and no amount of other family legend was going to convince her otherwise.  
  
"Ahhh Yeah mom! I'll do some chores, but I really have to..."  
  
"I don't want to hear another excuse from your mouth. For all I know you've been sneaking away to go hang out with that girl you took to the movies the other night. And you don't even have the decency to bring her here! Well if you want to be sneaking around behind my back then you can stay where I tell you to be. No go clean your room!"  
  
Roshi quickly went to clean his room. It took him ten minutes. His room was spotless to begin with, so all he had to do was dust and make his bed.  
  
"Ok, I'm done with my room. Can I go now?"  
  
"No, not until you are done with this list." His mother said as she handed him a list of chores."  
  
"OoooKay Mom whatever you say." He said as he looked down at the list. "Let me see, item one, Wash my clothes. That's not that hard."  
  
Being your typical male, Roshi put as many of his clothes into the washing machine as he could, and then started it washing.  
  
THUMP, THUMP, WHAMP, THUD!  
  
Various coins, pens, pencils and a calculator also ended up in the wash.  
  
When it was all done washing, Roshi took all of his clothes out of the washer and used his Ki to dry them. He noticed that several of his white school shirts had turned purple-red. "Hmmm, maybe I should have washed the white stuff separately. Oh well, I needed new shirts anyway."  
  
"Item two. Repaint the house." Roshi stared at it for a minute. "Repaint the house," he repeated slowly. "Sounds fun." Sarcasm was not lost on Roshi today.  
  
The son family Mansion was four stories tall and had over 150 rooms. Needless to say, painting it would not be easy. Roshi quickly found some white paint and started painting the house. Not wanting to waste the time with brushes, he just poured the paint directly onto the side of the house and used various strengths of Kiahs to spread it out evenly. The fact that he had also painted over several windows did not occur to him at the time.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!?!?!" His mother screamed.  
  
"Uh, I'm painting."  
  
"Forget it, I don't want to know. Just get the paint off the windows before it dries."  
  
"Sure thing mom!" Roshi said while thinking how lucky he was that she didn't go nuts after seeing that he had painted over the windows.  
  
Painting the house and de-painting the windows took several hours. It was now 11:26 A.M.  
  
"I need to hurry up. Item three, chop wood. Heah! That's easy!"  
  
Roshi found and old dead tree and smacked it into pieces. Then he quickly carried enough wood to last them two years back to the yard.  
  
"Item four. Repair driveway. WHAT?!?!" Roshi couldn't believe this one. He went to get his mother. "Ah... mom, what do you mean by this?" He asked while showing her the list.  
  
"Our driveway has some trees growing onto it an it has lots of pot holes. I want you to carry some of the gravel your father and you have made while blowing up the mountains around here and patch up the driveway."  
  
"Mom! we live in East Chikyuu! Our Driveway is 163 km long! No one uses ground vehicles anyway! We all have hover cars!!"  
  
"Don't argue with me young man! You can go have your fun AFTER you get your work done!"  
  
"Yaaaaah, ahh man!"  
  
Roshi went right to work fixing the driveway. After what seemed like only a little time, he was hungry so he stopped at the nearby river and caught a fish and ate it.  
  
"Ah, that hit the spot." he said while lying on his back near the river. "Now, what time is it? AHHHH It's already 2:30!! I have to get moving!!!" 'Painting the house is one thing, but I would think that my mother could hire an engineering team to fix the driveway if she wanted it nice.' Roshi complained to himself.  
  
The driveway was gravel and normally in disrepair for several reasons not the least of which is that as Roshi said everyone flew to and from the estate. The other primary reason is who would suspect that some of the richest people in the world lived at the end of a nasty dirt and gravel road that disappeared into an overgrown forest?  
  
Roshi finished fixing the driveway at 3:10 and was walking back to the house to see what else he had to do.  
  
His mother met him at the door. She looked like she was upset about something. It is never a good thing when his mother looked like she was upset.  
  
"Ok Young man, who is she? Is this over that Mariah girl that you got into that fight for?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Don't huh me! young man! I had to disconnect the phone. Your cousin Slip kept calling every minute claming there was some big emergency and she said that some girl would be here this afternoon. Now who..."  
  
"THIS AFTERNOON!!!!!"  
  
"...is she? I want to know who this hussy is that you were sneaking out of the house to meet. I don't want you dating any girls I don't approve of young man. She is probably just out..."  
  
"DID SLIP SAY WHEN SHE WOULD BE HERE?!?!?!"  
  
"for your fame. I should know, I had the biggest schoolgirl crush on one of your uncles..."  
  
"MOM TELL ME WHAT SLIP SAID... YOU WHAT!?!!?!"  
  
"I said, I had a schoolgirl crush on one of your uncles. He was a descendant of the great Mr. Satan, and he was so cute. When your father asked me out I said yes because he was a total hunk, but I didn't even know who your father was until the second date. I think he didn't want people to know he was a member of the Satan family."  
  
"Wow! who would have thought. So which uncle was it? I bet it was PJ wasn't it?" 'No wait, she said she liked him because he was a descendant of Mr. Satan. That would mean it couldn't be PJ... I wonder' Roshi let his thoughts trail off.  
  
"I'm not telling! I have to have a few secrets don't I? But YOU young man, DON'T get the same privilege! Who is this girl?"  
  
"OH YEAH THE GIRL!!! PLEASE!!! mom what did Slip say??? PLEASE tell me exactly what she said."  
  
"Just that this Hussy would be here at around four."  
  
"Around FOUR!!! CRAP!!" Roshi started to turn to leave.  
  
"ROSHI! I want to know who this girl is now tell me or your going to be grounded until your 90!"  
  
"Mom, listen very carefully. I'm not going to go on a date with this girl. She is a terrible killer, and I have to go fight her."  
  
Roshi's mother looked at him for a little bit and then burst out laughing. "Son, you have quite the imagination. Let me guess, this girl has been watching you for quite some time. Just because she has a crush on you doesn't make her a terrible killer. I mean come on! I bet she just embarrasses you."  
  
"Mom, you don't understand!"  
  
"Oh, trust me I do all too well. Now that I know that you don't like this girl, I'm not quite as worried." She winked at him and then went started walking to the house. "After you get the grocery's you can go have your date son. Oh, my baby has his first girlfriend! He's growing up so fast!"  
  
Roshi was frantic, It's already 3:15! I have to hurry, she'll be here in about 45 minutes! He grabbed the capsule that had the food truck in it and flew towards Satan City as fast as he could.  
  
Once in Satan City, he clicked the capsule and put the truck into a parking spot at the local farmer's market. He then quickly went to the main desk.  
  
"Ah hi, I need 200 heads of lettuce, 150 heads of cabbage, 100 lbs. of sweet peas, 150 stalks of celery, 100 tomatoes, 200 ears of sweet corn, 5,000 lbs. of rice, 150 lbs. of bamboo shoots, 2,000 oranges, 1,500 apples, 1,000 lbs. of chicken, 2,000 lbs. of beef, 1,000 lbs. of pork, and 150 lbs. of ground pepper. Can you get that and put it in that Semi in the next 30 minutes?"  
  
"Ah, son, Just how are you planning on paying for that?"  
  
"Put it on this." Roshi said as he gave the man a debut card with his picture and name on it.  
  
"Hey, I know that name, you're one of Mr. Satan's descendants. I bet your giving all this food to the needy aren't you?"  
  
"Ah, yeah, in a way." He needed to eat just like everyone else. Ok, so he ate many times more then every one else, but he still needed to eat.  
  
"Ok sir, we'll have that semi loaded in no time!"  
  
Roshi hated it when old people called him sir. It was just plain weird. He had never done anything to deserve special treatment, but people always treated him different after they learned who he was.  
  
While they were loading the truck he flew to the local dairy processing plant and went in to talk to the manager.  
  
"Hi, Dave! I need the usual."  
  
Roshi visited this place quite often and Dave knew exactly what he needed. The usual was a 500 gallon tank of milk and one block each of cheddar, Colby-jack, and pepper-jack cheeses. These were not 1lb. blocks, but rather the big 3 foot by 2 foot by 3 foot wooden shipping boxes used to ship large amounts of cheese long distance. Each box contained close to 700 lbs. of cheese.  
  
"Ok Roshi, we were expecting you yesterday, you're lucky I was here to do some bookkeeping or you would have had to wait until tomorrow."  
  
"Yeah, forgot it was the weekend. Sorry."  
  
Roshi got the stuff and enclosed it into a capsule and left to get the rest of his food.  
  
After he left one of the office help who had never seen Roshi before had to ask a question. "Hey boss, what do you think they do with all that cheese?"  
  
"I haven't got a clue. Cheese is good for you and all, but they get that much every week. They must give it to charity or something."  
  
"Yeah, the descendents of Mr. Satan are really great people."  
  
After he turned the truck back into a capsule he looked at his watch. "CRAP! It's 4:06! I have to get moving!"  
  
"Hey Roshi! What's up!" Mariah called as she ran over from the farmers market with a bag of fresh early tomatoes.  
  
Roshi turned around and looked at Mariah. "Um Mariah, I really hate to do this, but I really have to get moving. I was supposed to be at Capsule Corp at four and I am late." Roshi said befor turning and calling the Kintoun.  
  
"Darn. Well, you are a busy person. I just wanted to thank you for the other night. It was really fun."  
  
Roshi set his capsules into the Kintoun and then reached over and pulled Mariah into a hug. "Don't mention it. Same thing this Friday only I pay this time remember."  
  
Mariah laughed. "Like I would forget!"  
  
"Yeah, well sorry to run, but I have to get moving. See you later!" Roshi yelled as he hopped on the Kintoun and flew away. He waited until he was out of eyesight before jumping off the Kintoun and flying away on his own. Roshi had never flown as fast in his life. He made it home in less then 5 minutes.  
  
"Hey mom, here is all the food." he said as he dropped the two capsules and turned to leave.  
  
"Wait, you need to help me unpack all this food, you know I can't lift most of these things."  
  
"Mom you need to listen to me now because I am dead serious. In less then one hour a girl who is looking for Saiyans and has killed at least six people directly and destroyed most of the food supply for Peace City on Namek will land on Earth. She fought with Piccolo on Namek and is very strong. I am the only one still on Earth who can fight her and hope to survive. She kills without cause and if I loose many many people will probably die. If I am still alive I will help you unpack the food later. I have to go now." He started to leave.  
  
"I love you mom! Wish me luck."  
  
Roshi's mother just stood there, frozen for many minutes after he had left. Her little boy was going to go fight a killer. She was terrified. She finally decided that Slip must know something. She got into her car and started to drive to the Capsule Corp. It would take her eleven hours to drive that far, but by Dende she was going to get to the bottom of this. She couldn't just let her baby go and fight this terrible beast girl. * * *  
  
Author's note: This chapter was for all of you people who like pointless episodes of DBZ, you know, like the Goku and Piccolo Driving one. It doesn't help the plot, but it sure was funny.  
  
Please Review. 


	10. The Waiting Game

Chapter 10 The Waiting Game  
  
4:16 Earth approach, Ichigo's Ship.  
  
"Planet Earth within Scouter range." the computer dutifully told her.  
  
"Give me a reading, exclude any power levels below 30,000."  
  
"There is a power level of 36,000 moving rapidly westward towards a large city in the Southwestern part of the main continent. There is a power level of 52,000 several hundred miles to the South by Southwest of that city."  
  
"That's it? Computer how many power levels do you detect above 20,000?  
  
"There are 4 additional power levels detected between 20,000 and 30,000."  
  
I don't understand, there should be many more high power levels then this. It doesn't make sense. UNLESS! That stupid ship that I spotted a few hours ago! I didn't scan it! All of the high level warriors must be on different planets! Well, the highest one must be the leader. I'll go talk to him first."  
  
"Computer keep watching the two highest power levels. Land near the highest one."  
  
"The second highest power level has disappeared."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It reached a complex in the city it was headed for and is no longer detectable."  
  
"Is the complex interfering with the scans?"  
  
"There is not any detectable interference with the scouter."  
  
"The second highest power on the planet just vanished and you can't tell me anything as to how or why?"  
  
"The power level is no longer detectable. There are no detectable problems with the ship's systems."  
  
'What is going on down there?' Ichigo wondered. She decided that she would orbit the planet and continue to scan it for a while. She didn't like the fact that something as powerful as a Ki of 36,000 could just vanish.  
  
***  
  
Meanwhile, Roshi had arrived at the Capsule Corp. He had been in a hurry and could not hide all of his Ki, but he hoped that he had hid enough of it.  
  
"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!?!?!" Slip demanded. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO BE HERE HOURS AGO!!!"  
  
"I'm sorry my mother wouldn't let me leave until I was done with my chores."  
  
"There is a horrible killer coming here and you were worried about CHORES!!! Why didn't you just LEAVE? You could have flown away and there is nothing your mother could have done. I mean it is not like she would punish you for saving the world!"  
  
"I bet she would have."  
  
"AHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!! You are SUCH a mamma's Boy!"  
  
"Sorry, well I'm here now, what is going on?"  
  
"Well look at this." Slip said while pointing at a huge map of the Earth. "about ten minutes ago a little icon popped up on the screen. It said that the GKSS had detected an abnormality. I had no clue what the GKSS was so I opened it."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well it stands for Global Ki Surveillance System. Bulma had built it to keep track of Vegeta and Goku. It uses satellites to track all Ki sources on or above the planet. It had detected that girl and that is why it started flashing. It also detected you coming here. It said that you had a power level of 36,000 and she has a power level of 34,600."  
  
"Crap! I was in a hurry and let too much ki be detected!"  
  
"Yep, if we can detect her, she can detect us." Slip said matter-of- factly.  
  
"So where is she landing?" Roshi asked.  
  
"That's the strange part. She isn't. Her ship has entered orbit, but it is not landing."  
  
"Why would she not land? Has she sent any messages?"  
  
"No, and her ship does not seem to accept the ones the Government sends to all incoming ships either." Slip said.  
  
"That is really weird. I wonder why she doesn't just ask the government the same questions she asked everyone else."  
  
"Couldn't tell you. Unless she knows that we are here and does not want to waste her time."  
  
"AHHHHH NO!!!" Roshi screamed. "SHE'S WAITING FOR NIGHT TIME!!!"  
  
"AHH! The moon!!! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT! SHE KNOWS THAT SHE CANNOT BEAT YOU NORMALLY, SO SHE IS PLANNING ON DOING IT AT AS AN OUZARU!!!! WE'RE ALL DEAD!!!" Slip screamed right after.  
  
Roshi had to admit that he was afraid. What was he to do? He couldn't fight an Ouzaru. The girl would turn him into goo.  
  
"Call Boxers and Tee. They will have to help. Oh, and tell Boxers to bring the sword."  
  
"Right, Boxers' sword will come in handy if you have to cut off her tail."  
  
Roshi was thinking about everything which he knew about this girl when he suddenly realized something.  
  
"Ah, Slip, we may be getting ahead of ourselves. We don't even know for sure if the girl is a Saiyan. Also, even if she is a Saiyan, she would have no way of knowing that the full moon was tonight. I bet she is just being cautious. I mean, why wouldn't she just land where it is already night if she intends to use the Ouzaru?"  
  
"Then why isn't she landing?"  
  
"I don't know. Like I said, she is probably just being cautious. She may not have expected finding a power level that could challenge her own."  
  
"Right! Well if she behaves like what records on Vegeta say, she will challenge the strongest person on the planet! THAT IS YOU, YOU IDIOT!!! SHE IS GOING TO COME HERE!!! AFTER DARK AND SQUASH THE CITY INTO RUBBLE!!!!" Slip screamed as she started to unscrew a few bolts from a weird bow like thing.  
  
Roshi realized that there was not going to be an easy way to calm Slip down. She just was too excited to think straight and that was that. Besides, she was armed with a screwdriver and was acting really weird.  
  
"Ah right... well, I will just have to lead her away from here if that happens. Ah, what are you doing? Hey Slip!"  
  
Slip was so busy running around the room looking for who knows what that she didn't even notice he had said anything. She was practically ripping the place apart. She found a little laser pen like thing and started fiddling with some other piece of equipment. All this while humming something to herself.  
  
Roshi had never seen Slip get riled up like that before. At this rate he guessed that she would have the entire Capsule Corp taken apart and put back together by latter this evening.  
  
"Ah, well I'm going to call Boxers and Tee and get them to help. I might need Boxers' sword."  
  
Boxers had inherited Trunks's Sword and kept it meticulously sharp. Roshi knew that if the girl really was a Saiyan, they might need that sword to save their lives.  
  
Once again Slip just ignored him as she grabbed a glue gun and started gluing two something or others together.  
  
***  
  
"I'm sick of waiting!" Ichigo finally decided.  
  
She had sat up in the bridge of her ship for two hours trying to figure out what had happened to that power level. It never reappeared, and Ichigo was beginning to doubt that there had ever been an actual power level detected. Occasionally, the scouters picked up echoes and false readings. It was close enough to her own power level, that she guessed that it could have been a false reading off of her or something. It really didn't mater, she had decided, whatever that reading had been it was gone now.  
  
"Computer, set down as close to the source of the 52,000 power level. I might as well start with the biggest one. That will probably be the only person who will know anything anyway."  
  
"Course plotted. The power level is located about 4 km above the surface of the planet. More input needed."  
  
Huh? The power level never moved, but it is 4 km above the planet? What is it with this planet???  
  
"Land on the ground below the power level. I will then fly up and meet it."  
  
"New course plotted. Touchdown in thirty minutes."  
  
'Now to get ready,' Ichigo thought to herself. She looked down at herself and decided that the light blue armor that she had on would be good enough for this planet. It was more regal then the other suits of armor that she had left and if there were actually any of the rebel Saiyans down there, she wanted to look as regal as she could.  
  
'Hmmm,' she thought, 'I should braid my hair.' I have nothing to do for the next half-hour or so while the ship lands anyway. 'Hmmmm, it would make me look somewhat more presentable.'  
  
Ichigo's hair was quite long. Even with the natural tendency of a Saiyan's hair to defy gravity, the genie style ponytail that she usually had her hair in reached all the way down her back. Since long hair was easy to grab and use against a person, it was generally frowned on in Saiyan society to allow a child's hair to grow out so long. Ichigo, however, did not care. The pictures and paintings of her mother had shown her with her black hair flowing all the way down to her ankles. Since a Saiyan's hair essentially stopped growing once they reached adulthood, Ichigo had vowed as a little girl not to cut her hair until after she was married, or Queen, or fifty, whichever came first.  
  
Even though the vow meant next to nothing now that Ichigo was close to being mature, she still kept it. As Ichigo set about taming her unruly hair she thought about one day about a year back when Sakura and she had been training in the dogo. Sakura had grown her hair out to almost match Ichigo's. The girl had gotten away with it because if anyone mentioned something about it, those words would get back to Ichigo. Ichigo laughed as she recalled the great hunks of hair that had started falling off of Sakura's head that day. In a matter of hours she went from having long hair that descended to the small of her back to having the shortest hair Ichigo had ever seen on a Saiyan. To make matters worse, at least in Sakura's eyes, her hair all shot to the left side of her head and the only longer spikes spiked streaght out over her ear. Sakura said it made her look lopsided.  
  
Sakura's molting was relatively uncommon, but not unheard of. Most people slowly lost hair until it was whatever length it would be as an adult. On the flipside, some people's hair grew almost overnight. Since Ichigo's hair had not fallen out or changed length in any major fashion when she hit puberty, she was fairly certain that it would be this length for the rest of her life.  
  
Meanwhile the ship descended through the layers of clouds to land near the base of Korrin's tower.  
  
"Landing successful. You may disembark at will." The ship dutifully reported.  
  
Ichigo gave herself one final look over, she then slipped her personal scouter over her left ear and stepped out the hatch of the ship.  
  
Her first few steps had a large bouncing gait to them until she got used to the lower gravity. "Hm, no wonder the people of this planet are so weak. This gravity is almost nothing." Taking a deep breath she slowly exhaled. "At least this planet smells normal." She said to herself as she looked around.  
  
About a km away stood a tower. It was thin and white. It also went up higher then Ichigo could see. Her scouter also indicated that the high level ki was most likely at the top of that tower.  
  
"Oh well, I needed the exercise anyway." She said as she walked to the tower. She decided that she would climb the tower using only her pinkie fingers. It should be a good workout.  
  
*** "She landed by Korrin's tower!" Slip screamed.  
  
"I see that! I'm going, wish me luck!" he called back as he ran for the door.  
  
"You don't need luck! You need to remember to keep your power level down so you can surprise her!" Slip said as she threw the ancient scouter to him.  
  
Roshi caught it on the run. "Ah, Right! Ah Kintoun!" he called for the yellow cloud as he ran through the door. If he could get close enough to her on his cloud, he might be able to use some of his father's tricks to try to get an actual read on her. There was something about her that just plain bothered him. He almost wanted to call it a premonition, but he had never believed in premonitions.  
  
It took almost an hour to fly from the Capsule Corp to Korrin's tower. While he was traveling, he had been keeping a constant watch on both his own power level, and the girl's position. She seemed to be slowly climbing the tower. This made no sense to Roshi. He couldn't figure out why she had not just flown up to the top.  
  
Oh well, what ever her reason for slowly climbing the tower, Roshi was not going to complain. It gave him more time. It also allowed him to think about the past week. He had made several startling discoveries during the week. This past week had been like a big huge wake up call. Having a real danger to motivate one to remember one's lesions was a definite factor.  
  
First, he had realized that his father had been teaching him things that would help him fight his entire life, even when he had not known it. One such instance that came to mind happened when he was six or seven. Goshu had taken him to town to one of his father's friends houses for a men's night of cards. Roshi had been bored, but his father had slowly taught him how to play poker.  
  
Later that night, after he had gotten to understand the rules to some extent, his father had opted out of a hand to take Roshi aside. While the two of them watched the others play cards, his father had taught him to sense out how good or bad a person's hand was by sensing their emotions.  
  
For the longest time, Roshi had thought that this technique was good for only cheating at games. And after a while, he had forgotten about it entirely. Thinking about it now, he should have realized something was up when his father never won a single game of cards. He obviously used that ability for other purposes. Roshi had just not realized it.  
  
Roshi had always been a quick study. He would pick up things quickly, but he also forgot about things just about as fast. Unfortunately, Roshi's father had never really pushed him in his training. If he seemed to know something, he was never pushed to use it.  
  
Once Roshi had remastered being able to hide his Ki, an ability he had done without thought as a child, but somehow forgotten, the floodgates had opened. He recalled playing catch with a rotten egg when he was five. His father had put an egg out in the sun for several days to let it get good and rotten. Then he had blindfolded Roshi and forced him to sense without seeing the egg and play catch.  
  
Roshi had later learned that his father had been using a rock for most of the day, but that did not matter. He after a few days of catch he could sense his father's arm as it moved to throw the egg or rock or ball and then sense the object as it approached. By the time he was seven Roshi could do almost anything blindfolded. Then he had started going to school in town, and had over time forgotten everything.  
  
The more he had practiced the past week, the more he had become amazed at how much better of a fighter he would have been if he had only remembered his childhood games.  
  
'Oh well, enough of the trip down memory lane,' Roshi said to himself. He was almost to the tower now and had to prepare for what could be the battle of his life. He did not want to fight the girl, but he could not forget what Piccolo had said.  
  
"You will most definitely make her furious, so be prepared to fight." Piccolo had said about removing the girl's tail.  
  
If only there was another way, Roshi thought. He looked up at the sky. No, it is already almost 8:00. I have very few options. If she wants to fight, I will have to get rid of that tail before she can go Ouzaru or I'll be as good as dead.  
  
As he drew close to the girl, he tried to determine what her mood was. The only other person he had done this with in the past week was Slip. Slip could be read like a book. This girl however was a mystery. She was deep in thought, and was not aware of his approach. That was important to know, but it was about all he could get off of her.  
  
He circled around so that he was behind her and flew up within 8 meters of her. Her scouter did not seem to register him and she was so focused on something that she did not hear him.  
  
Roshi looked at her. The girl appeared to be climbing the tower with her pinkie fingers. She looked to be about his age. From behind her, the most noticeable feature was her hair. Roshi had never seen a girl with such a thick braid before. The braid reached down to below her waist and was almost as big around as his arm at her head. Roshi sat on the cloud for a few moments just looking at that hair.  
  
Then, he gave her a closer look. She had been climbing for close to an hour using her pinkies. She was not the slightest bit tired. And that armor at least looked heavy.  
  
She had on a light blue and white piece of armor and had a dark almost navy blue cape.  
  
'That cape was going to be a problem,' he thought. 'How am I supposed to grab her tail when it is hidden behind that stupid cape? Oh well, I guess now is as good a time as any.'  
  
"Ah excuse me, but what are you doing?" Roshi asked from behind the girl. * * *  
  
Well this chapter is almost unchanged. Sorry about the shorter chapters, but there is really nothing much I can add to this without changing the story.  
  
Please Review! 


	11. When Misconceptions Clash

Chapter 11 When Misconceptions Clash Sunday Evening  
  
Ichigo had allowed her mind to wonder. The purposefully slow climb was quite boring, and she had started to think of all the things that had gone wrong in the past week and a half. She realized that her father had not expected her to succeed. He had only wanted her to live. But like most Saiyans, Ichigo had an iron will to succeed. And she was going to do everything she could to find the Vegeta rebels.  
  
She was busy trying to recall every thing she knew about the people who had followed the rebelling Vegeta family when someone suddenly spoke.  
  
"Ah excuse me, but what are you doing?"  
  
"AHH!"  
  
Ichigo spun around in an instant. Being surprised was not something that she liked, and she had had no indication that anyone was behind her until he had spoken.  
  
There, not more then three meters away floated a young man about her age. He was dressed in a loose fitting blue, orange and white outfit and did not look like much of a warrior.  
  
Ichigo looked at the readout on her scouter. "Five?" she said aloud in disbelief. No one with that low of a power level could fly! Then she realized that he was sitting on some kind of yellow cloud like thing.  
  
"Another one of you? I don't have time to deal with know-nothing weaklings. If you don't want me to have to kill you, I suggest you take your cloud and fly someplace else."  
  
The young man cocked his head slightly to the side. "Why are you being so aggressive? I just asked what you were climbing this tower for."  
  
Ichigo grimaced and shot a ki blast past his head in an attempt to scare him away. She could always ignore him and go back to climbing, but she would prefer to deal with as few of the indig people as possible. She had already killed far too many of them for her own tastes.  
  
Rather then fly away in fright the guy stood up on his cloud thing and glared at her. "Now that was totally uncalled for. For the last time. Why are you here, what are you looking for, and why are you climbing that tower?" He asked sternly.  
  
Ichigo glared at him through her scouter. The readout still read five and he had yet to show that he had the slightest clue what he was dealing with. 'This idiot is really begging for it. I'll give him one last chance.'  
  
"Look, you pathetic little man, you haven't the slightest idea what you are dealing with no go away before I have to kill you." She said as she casually flicked her tail off in a random direction.  
  
The boy had been staring right into her eyes. Any idiot knows better then to look into a possible opponent's eyes. He should not have even been able to see her flick her tail. But in an instant, he had moved faster then Ichigo could react.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" She let out an involuntary scream of pain as he grabbed and squeezed her tail. She had had her tail grabbed before, and it was always painful, but this time was different. Far exceeding the pain from the conduit in the catacomb run, the pain that shot through her body was excruciating. She had jerked straight up the moment he had grabbed her tail. Her now firmly anchored tail was stretched out by her own upward movement. Pain like fire or lightning raced from her tail up her spine and exploded into her brain. She felt the joints in her tail grinding together. Muscle bruised, and nerves sizzled. Every muscle in her body went tight and then seemed to spasm. Her gut wrenched, and she tasted bile in her mouth. She could not breathe, but could only scream out in pain. As more waves of pain hit her brain, it felt like some great hand was squeezing her heart and lungs. She was for the first time she could think of totally and absolutely helpless by someone else's actions.  
  
Time seemed to slow to a crawl. It was all over in a matter of moments, but it felt like centuries. She felt herself, no longer being supported by her Ki, start to fall. Her body started to slip to the side, and that caused it to twist on her tail. New waves of pain shot up her back as one of the vertebrae at the base of her tail suddenly cracked.  
  
She felt the flesh of her tail begin to rip away from the base of her spine as she slowly started to fall away. The pain was incredible. She knew that she was falling, but she could do nothing to stop it. She just couldn't focus her mind enough to control her own ki.  
  
She slowly spun as she fell until she was once again looking up at that horrible young man. Tears blurred her vision, but she could see him well enough. He was floating there beside his cloud holding her tail. He made eye contact, but his face was completely expressionless.  
  
As Ichigo fell further, her cape flapped up and covered her face. Moments before it did however, she saw him put his hand out and shoot a Ki blast at her. It hit her at the base of her spine, right where her tail had once been. A new wave of incredible pain shot up her back. It was more then she could take, and as she mercifully passed out, she smelled the acrid stench of her own burning flesh.  
  
* * * Roshi had never heard anyone scream so loudly. It was piercingly, painfully loud. He knew that it would be a long time before he would ever forget that scream or the look on her face, if ever. It was a face set in absolute shock and pain. She almost had a look of betrayal on her face. It made him think he had just tried to kill her. Something made him think that she would have rather died.  
  
That face though, how was he going to forget that? He had looked into her eyes. She had dark gray-blue eyes that had reminded him of a thundercloud brewing on the horizon. There was violence in those eyes. There was contempt. She clearly thought that she was by far superior to him. But, search them as he did, he did not find the cold hard look of evil.  
  
"Stop it!" He said to himself. "I can't just hang around here all day."  
  
Roshi looked down at the girl's tail. It hung limply in his hand. A few drops of blood fell from the severed end of it as Roshi watched. It reminded him of a beheaded snake. It looked like a furry brown-gray snake. It gave him the creeps.  
  
Roshi had slowly started to drop down to where the girl had fallen. If she were still conscious, he would have to fight her before she did any more damage. If not, well, that would give him some time to think.  
  
He found her flat on her stomach in a slight depression in the ground. Her head was flopped to one side and she was laying on one of her arms, but other then the smoking hole in her bodysuit and the burnt flesh visible through the hole she didn't appear to be hurt. She was definitely not conscious. But even without being aware, her face was locked in a grimace of pure pain. Roshi found himself actually almost feeling sorry for the girl.  
  
"Oh well, can't have you waking up while I am gone." He said more to himself then her.  
  
Kneeling down he laid his right hand down on her forehead. Her skin felt cold and clammy, but he ignored it. Getting a sense of her, he made a "Sleeping Beauty" ball as his father had called it. The odd green ball of energy pulsated in a pattern very much like brainwaves during deep sleep. Roshi remembered getting hit by this attack a few times as a kid. Unless prepared for the attack, it immediately knocked a person out for several hours.  
  
Of course, Roshi's father was empathic enough he could use the attack at range. Roshi had to be physically touching a person to get a good enough read on their mind to even have a chance at it working.  
  
The attack was useless against anyone who knew it was coming however. All it took was altering one's thought patterns and concentrating to stay awake to make the attack worthless, but then the girl was already knocked out so that would not be a problem.  
  
"Pst, zzzzzzz" Roshi dropped the ki ball on her head and it slowly spread out and sank into her. She slowly seemed to relax and actually sleep.  
  
'Good,' he thought, 'now I can go back to Slip and have her look at this thing.' He once again looked at the tail. 'I can't help feeling evil after doing this to her.'  
  
'Sure,' he realized, 'she was going around killing people, but if she isn't actually Saiyan, or with the funny color of her tail, if she is a hybrid of some sort that cannot go Ouzaru, then this was a rather distasteful action on my part.' Roshi paused for a moment before deciding she was less dangerous if left here rather then if he took her back to Capsule Corp. Sure, she would be easier to monitor at CC, but she could also do a lot more damage there.  
  
Roshi flew up to head back when he saw the ship.  
  
"That has to go. There may be things to help her heal in it" he realized as he said it.  
  
BOOOM!!! One well placed blast to the rear of the ship where the engines were caused the whole thing to more or less vaporize.  
  
'Man is she going to be pissed when she wakes up. Oh well, nothing I can do about it,' he thought to himself.  
  
Roshi put his numerous thoughts out of his mind as he quickly flew back to the Capsule Corp.  
  
* * * Later that evening at the Capsule Corp  
  
"Come on Slip! How much longer is this going to take?" Roshi demanded as he paced the floor of her lab.  
  
"Just a few more minutes. Roshi, you're terrible! Look if she wakes up you can go stop her from doing anything, but look at the GKSS! SHE HASN'T MOVED!" Slip practically screamed back at him. "You have been asking how much longer these tests will take for two hours!"  
  
"If I knew I would have to sit around here doing nothing but running away from you and your needles, I would have brought the girl back here with me. There is no telling what she might do when she wakes up!"  
  
"Which is precisely why you did not bring her here. My parents will kill me if anything happens to the Capsule Corp's complex. I mean, just how would have YOU restrained her once she woke up? Ever thought of that? It is far better that she wake up out in the middle of no-where where she can't do any real damage." Slip stated while looking at one more printout.  
  
Slip got done with that and grabbed a syringe from her shelf.  
  
Roshi not letting down his guard again noticed immediately.  
  
"Hey get away from my with that! What are you some kind of Vampire! Haven't you taken enough of my blood?" Roshi said while scooting behind some equipment.  
  
"Well I can't get any from Boxers or Tee, they both ran away." Slip said, "Besides for a tough guy like yourself, you are awfully queasy around needles. Don't you want to show-up those two babies?"  
  
"No! If you need so much blood, why don't you prick your own hide?" Roshi said to his defense.  
  
"Well, I could do that but I need more of your blood to run this last test, I didn't get enough last time." Slip said while attempting to corner him.  
  
You mean when you had me looking at microscope and jabbed me in the butt?! That hurt by the way!" he said as he did a back flip over the table.  
  
"Well if you hadn't jumped I would have stuck you in your arm where I was aiming for. Besides, when you jumped, you broke off the needle! If you would have just let me pull it out, it would not have hurt so much. DUH but no! YOU had to run around screaming like you were dying." She said  
  
"Oh yeah well that is just..."  
  
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!  
  
The conversation could have gone on well into the night, but the two of them where stopped by the one thing Roshi feared more then that needle in Slip's hand. The GKSS had detected the girl was waking up.  
  
"Crap! Look at what you have done Slip! Now I am going to have to sneak back there slowly on the Kintoun so she does not detect me coming. Now could you at least tell me if she is a Saiyan or not? I mean if, I didn't have to pull of her tail. I may have some apologizing to do. EVEN though she has more to confess too!" Roshi quickly added the last comment to keep Slip from going off.  
  
"Oh yeah, I knew she was a Saiyan two hours ago. And as far as I can tell she is a full blood. I was just testing traits and stuff for the past two hours, because as far as I can tell, she comes from a totally different family then either Goku or Vegeta." She replied from over at her desk, having given up trying to catch Roshi.  
  
"YOU KNEW TWO HOURS AGO!?!?!?!? HOW Could you... ah you.. Oh never mind I don't even want to know. But you are about as absent minded at times as my pet dog."  
  
"Oh you are so kind. Now don't you have to go save the world?"  
  
"Good BYE Slip... If she manages to kick my butt, I will come after you in the afterlife." He said as he left the Capsule Corp. * * *  
  
A nice short chapter. Oh well. Please Review. 


	12. They meet and Sparks Fly

Chapter 12 They meet and the sparks fly  
  
Sunday night about 9:45 p.m.  
  
"Owwww my head," Ichigo said as she slowly came to.  
  
She rolled over while slowly opening her eyes and then tried to blink them clear. "Wow that is a big star." She said as she caught sight of a large luminescent globe.  
  
Ichigo stretched out and rubbed the last of the sleep stuff from her eyes. Then she blinked, dumbfounded. She was flat on her back blinking in shock.  
  
"THAT'S NO STAR!! THAT'S A FULL MOON!!!" This was a shock to her. She had not been expecting a full moon. In fact she had only seen one twice before in her life.  
  
Being a trained Saiyan she relaxed and waited for the indications that the Ouzaru transformation was taking her body over. She waited. Nothing happened.  
  
Ichigo was fully awake in a millisecond. She rolled up into a sitting position... only to fall back onto her back in pain.  
  
"AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"  
  
She suddenly remembered. She didn't have a tail anymore. It was gone and the area where it had been attached was now very very tender.  
  
"AH AH AH AH AH.. Ok. Don't panic. Tails grow back. I just need to get to my regeneration tank and everything will be ok. This is not that big of a deal." She told herself in an attempt to not panic.  
  
Remembering the boy who had put her into this situation, she reached up and turned on her scouter. She then turned it all the way up to the highest sensitivity setting.  
  
"Damn! He seems to have disappeared. Well, He is going to have to die. Just as soon as I get my tail back." She said to herself  
  
Ichigo got up, careful not to put pressure on the former location of her tail, and flew back to her ship. This was harder then it sounded because for some reason her sense of balance seemed to be off. She adjusted quickly enough, but for a little while, it felt like she was drunk.  
  
After she had adjusted, she thought she was doing fairly well at keeping her balance. Then she saw her ship in the moonlight. It was over half destroyed. Pieces and parts were all over the place.  
  
"MY SHIP!!! MY SHIP!!" She wailed as she lost her balance and flew right into a tree. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! HE IS GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!!! I AM GOING TO KILL HIM AND EVERYONE ELSE ON THIS PLANET!!" she screamed as she flew to the rubble.  
  
It took her no time to find the ruins of the regeneration tank.  
  
"It's gone. I can't get my tail back now... I..." she suddenly went from mad as hell, to so deeply into shock that she was at a loss for words.  
  
The next few minutes were a fog. The only thing that was even remotely intact was the bridge. Her room and all her possessions were spread like leaves in the wind. She found that the refrigerator was also gone. Along with every scrap of food she had, even the dreaded support rations.  
  
She was in shock. Ichigo couldn't think straight. She absentmindedly rubbed her lower back where her tail had been.  
  
"IIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAAA HAAA that hurts! I have to look at the wound. It would almost be just my luck to get some weird infection now."  
  
She tried to turn her head around to look at herself, but her armor was too restricting to allow her to get a good look at her rear, so she found a medkit and left the ruins of the ship to find something to eat before she tended the wound.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo found a small lake with a grassy beach near in the woods nearby. After killing and eating large furry animal that had attempted to attack her, she set about working on her tail.  
  
She stripped out of her armor and then the bodysuit so that she could get enough flexibility to see what she was doing. Wearing only her workout bra and the mid-thigh length shorts that she wore under the body suit she looked at her wound.  
  
"AH OH NOOOO IT'S BURNED! That, that, that means that I... I..." Ichigo realized then and there that she would never get her tail back, but she could not bring herself to say it. The realization hit her if anything worse then the knowledge of what the Changelings had done. HOW was she supposed to find the Vegeta rebels if she not only did not have a ship. But had lost her tail as well?  
  
Low level guards and clumsy children loose their tails. Elite warriors and most definitely Crown Princesses did not. It was unheard of. It was shameful. Even if she saved everyone on Saiya she would be a mockery of her family. In one day, in one action that boy had destroyed her entire world far more then Blizzard had ever hoped to.  
  
She carefully pealed down her shorts so she could rub some salve on the wound. The salve sent little lightning bolts up her spine, but she knew she had to cover the burn or it would probably swell up so much she wouldn't be able to walk let alone enact her revenge.  
  
"I just need to calm down. Rushing into things blindly is what got me into this situation in the first place" Ichigo said with a sigh.  
  
She looked out on the reflection of the moon on the water. Having grown up on a world that had no moon (it had been blown away long ago), her eyes adjusted very well to the moonlight. It was majestic, serene, and wholly beautiful to look at. The warm summer breeze and the clear night sky only complimented the mood.  
  
'Strange,' she thought, 'I have never thought of moonlight for having any qualities except for the ability to grant my people great power. But, I can't deny that this is... is... relaxing.' Realizing what she had just thought, she quickly grabbed her scouter.  
  
"Good, no one is coming." She said as she scanned the horizon.  
  
Splish!...  
  
Ichigo turned in time to see the tail of a huge fish disappear under the water.  
  
'Just seeing the fish makes me hungry. That big furry brown thing was really not that filling,' she thought to herself. 'I think I will just have to go for a swim. She looked back at her back. Her shorts were not truly damaged and the hole that normally allowed her tail to extend through them was practically glaring at her. 'Well, the salve that I put on the burn is waterproof so that should not be a problem.'  
  
Ichigo dove in. The water was clear and cold. She ignored the small amount of discomfort. The cold water felt so good on her stiff joints and muscles.  
  
After a few minutes of just swimming for the sake of swimming, Ichigo caught a large fish and hauled it to shore.  
  
It took a few moments to cook the fish and then she ate ravenously. Full and satisfied she checked her scouter once more and found no change. Not worried about her appearance, she sat down again to do some stretching. She had not been able to harness her ki during her fall, and she was quite bruised. Knowing that it would hurt her in the long run if she allowed herself to get tight and stiff, she set herself to relaxing and stretching out.  
  
Her mind however had other things running through it. Actually, one thing to be specific. That Jerk.  
  
She thought about him as she went through her routine.  
  
'He looks like he is about my age. Maybe a little older. Tall, well built, but definitely not as bulky as most fighters. Then again, he was wearing that loose fitting orange, white and blue thing. So I really did not get a good look at him.'  
  
'Well, he is not bad looking, with short black hair and that little widow's peak. Oh and his eyes. His face was so impassive, but he had such deep dark eyes.' "What am I thinking?" Ichigo asked herself. "He is definitely a member of the weak race that lives on this planet. He only had a power level of 5. Besides it doesn't matter what the idiot looked like as soon as I see him again, he is as good as dead." 'I think I'll make his death very slow and painful. I will have to be careful though, with only a power level of 5 he will be way too easy to kill.'  
  
Ichigo started thinking about how she would slowly kill the weak pathetic young man who had so grievously wounded her. Suddenly she remembered something. 'Wait! But, he could float in the air, I saw him before he hit me with that ki blast. So how did he do that? Nothing with a power level that low can fly let alone fire a ki blast. I don't think he is normal. Either that or my stupid scouter is broken again. When I get done with my stretches I will have to look and see if my scouter picked anything more up from him.'  
  
'Hmmm,' she thought, 'he knows about Saiyans.' "I have never seen such a grim set look from anyone before. He knew what he was doing. He also must have been afraid of the Ouzaru. Otherwise he would not have ripped off my tail. I must not kill him right out when I find him. I will need to ask him many questions. LIKE WHERE THE HECK ARE the Vegeta rebels?" Remembering once again the Green man and his statements, Ichigo paused. "Perhaps I should be more cautious, this trip has been a lot more then I ever bargained for."  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi flew up on the Kintoun. He could easily sense where she was. The girl's power level had spiked several times during the last forty minutes as he pushed the little cloud to go faster.  
  
When he found her, he was quite surprised. She was doing stretches on the shore of a small lake. Beside her were the bones of a large animal, most likely a bear, and the bones of an equally large fish.  
  
'Heh,' he thought, 'I didn't need to wait for Slip to tell me what she was, I could have known just by watching her eat.'  
  
Roshi sat there on the Kintoun for several minutes just watching the girl stretch. Before, when she was wearing her armor and cape, he did not get a good look at her. Now he was getting an eyeful.  
  
Roshi could not help but stare at her long lithe toned body. 'Wow, she is so very feminine, he thought to himself. She has such long legs, a small waist, flat toned abs, smallish yet firm aesthetically perfect breasts... and what the hell am I thinking? I don't think like this! I am not my namesake. If stories about Master Roshi's exploits were even half-true, the man would be trying to make out with the girl right now. I don't think that way. I respect women. I don't stare at their long shinning black hair and wonder what it would be like to touch it...'  
  
Roshi could feel himself blushing with embarrassment as he realized that he really was ogling. 'Dende! This is bad! Think Roshi, she is the enemy, not some girl you want to ask out! Not to mention you yourself are off limits. Because you are trying to start dating Mariah. Mariah wouldn't like it much if she knew you where eyeing some barbarian cretin. Besides, I doubt the barbarian bitch would like it much even if I tried. She is a barbarian stop thinking of her as a girl.  
  
After calling the girl a barbarian in his mind, he pictured her wearing the bearskin coated in mud with her hair snarled and matted. The image was ludicrous! And then he did it.  
  
"ha hmm ah ah... oh shit." * * *  
  
Ichigo had been in the middle of a butterfly stretch when she heard laughter.  
  
She whipped her head around and up. She saw the same guy who had ripped off her tail. He was about twenty meters away sitting on that cloud of his.  
  
Ichigo was in the air in moments. "YOU ARE GOING TO PAY! FIRST YOU RIP OFF MY TAIL, THEN YOU BLOW UP MY SHIP, AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING AT ME! I DON'T FIND IT FUNNY YOU JERK!"  
  
"Hey wait, we don't have to fight!" The guy said as he jumped away from the cloud.  
  
"Oh yes we do! Only the weak refuse to fight, and I am not weak!" Ichigo said as she pulled her arm back to charge a ki Punch.  
  
"Yaah!" she screamed.  
  
The guy moved to his left to avoid her punch and caught her wrist in his right hand.  
  
WHOOMP!  
  
Even though he did not take the attack directly, touching her wrist released the ki Ichigo had built up and threw the young man back. It took him a few moments to reorient himself as he spun in the air and hit a tree. This would have all been acceptable for Ichigo, but unfortunately, the disruption of her attack and subsequent release of energy had also thrown her back. She was thrown head over heals right into that stupid cloud.  
  
Ichigo fell through the cloud and onto a rock.  
  
'Darn! He reacted faster then I expected. I wish I had my scouter so I could see what his power level is.' Ichigo thought to herself. 'No one with a power-level of five would live through that blast!'  
  
As Ichigo got back up to look for the stupid jerk, his cloud floated in front of her field of view. That cloud had seemed to slow her as she fell through it, as if it had wanted to hold her up, but could not.  
  
'Oh well,' she thought, 'I might as well start to get even with him.'  
  
"Well, You blew up my ship! I think it is only fair that I blow up your stupid cloud! Flare!" She called out to him as she shot the two handed version of her Blaze attack directly at the center of the cloud.  
  
Ichigo saw the young man jump up and intercept the cone of the Flare. He was a blur of orange, white and blue.  
  
"KIAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. BOOM!!! The cone blew with a satisfying explosion. The smoke cloud slowly cleared. As far as Ichigo was concerned it did not matter if the smoke ever cleared. No fighter she had ever encountered could have lived through that heat.  
  
"How?" The word managed to slip through her lips as she saw the sight before her. The young man floated there, arms crossed in front of his chest. His white bodysuit was slightly blackened, but there was no other apparent damage.  
  
Her mind filled reckless abandon, she flew at him in rage.  
  
* * * Roshi was in pain. He did not at the time realize how much pain, but he quickly realized that he had just encountered head on the two attacks that Piccolo had warned him about.  
  
'Man I can be dumb at times. She comes at me with a glowing fist, and what do I do? Oh, I grab the thing like an idiot!'  
  
Roshi looked down at his hand. His right hand was blistered and the skin had split in places. Blood was slowly oozing out of the torn flesh.  
  
To make matters worse, he was hotter then hell. Or at least it felt like it. Roshi felt as though he were being slowly cooked. He was just glad that his Kiah had been big enough to block most of the heat of that last attack.  
  
"I should have never listened to Slip. Stupid Saiyan bodysuit is one too many layers, even if it supposedly breathes." He said, as he subconsciously squirmed in the bodysuit he was not accustomed to wearing.  
  
He saw the girl fly at him to attack once again. 'Oh, how I wish there was another way. Oh, how I wish I could reason with her.'  
  
He did not have those options however, and he quickly cleared his mind to prepare for the assault.  
  
* * *  
  
"WOULD you two BOYS shut up!" Slip screamed at Tee and Boxers. "The fight has started!"  
  
The two boys for their part quickly stopped their horseplay. Both of them knew better then to mess with Slip. She might only be their cousin and not training in fighting at all, but she was more then enough to cow them into doing whatever the heck she needed them to do. That and she had warned them against breaking any more of her lab equipment.  
  
Slip's eyes were glued to the GKSS. While the orbiting satellites could not actually give a true video picture of what was going on, it did generate a very accurate computer generated video picture of the fight.  
  
"The computer claims that the girl has a power level of about 49,000!" Boxers suddenly exclaimed. "Wow! Ah, Slip, what is Roshi at? The little indicator for him keeps flashing up a question mark."  
  
"Well ah I don't really know." Slip admitted, "I know it is higher then that though."  
  
"So ah do you think we should go help him?" Tee asked.  
  
Slip grimaced. While Boxers and Tee were relatively strong, it did not take a rocket scientist to tell that the two of them not only did not want to fight, but would not add to the fight if they did fight.  
  
"Why bother, the fight will be over before you could get there. I mean it should not take him that long to kill her and be done with it." Slip stated mater-o-factly.  
  
"Ah Slip, if Roshi actually kills her, it will be an accident and I don't think I would want to be around when he gets back." Boxers replied.  
  
Slip waived his comment off. "Oh really, and why not? The girl is evil, she killed a whole bunch of people and deserves to die. So why do you say he won't kill her?"  
  
"Slip, for a smart person, you are really really stupid!" Tee replied. "I mean come on, did Goku EVER just Kill ANYONE?!? He thankfully did not even let Krillan kill Vegeta, even after Vegeta and the thug he was with destroyed a whole city, most of the Navy, and killed most of Goku's friends!"  
  
"Okay OKAY would you to just shut up and let me watch the fight!" Slip screamed. "Why can't he just kill her and be done with it?" She then grumbled to herself.  
  
Happy to have won and argument with their all too smart cousin, Tee and Boxers happily turned to the screen to watch. After giving each other a high five and victory dance that is.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HA!!!!!" Roshi shouted as he sent a beam of blue white energy streaking towards the girl.  
  
"Ieee-Ya" the girl fired a small blast of ki into the ground to help force herself into a backfliping summersault over the incoming beam.  
  
Roshi saw an opening and fired off a few small ki blasts towards where the girl would land. He then dove right into the lake.  
  
'Ok, think Roshi. She is fast, agile, and has very good reflexes. I won't be able to hit her with a Kamehameha if she knows it is coming. I need to out think her. What are her weaknesses? She can't sense ki. That is why I am hiding from her at the moment. I am stronger then her. Which means that the best thing is to keep it close hand to hand and just out power her. Right? No, that won't work either. In the few straight out physical exchanges she gave as well as she got. Hmmm...'  
  
Roshi could hold his breath for a long time underwater, but he knew he did not have all day to sit there and ponder. The girl had not gone for her scouter yet, but it would not be long.  
  
'AH HA! I know what I am going to do! It might be a bit dark for this, but I don't want to hit her with it anyway.'  
  
Roshi set his plan into action.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo saw the ki blasts coming at her out of the corner of her eye. She had almost no time to dodge them, but she managed to change her direction just a bit.  
  
WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! The three blasts hit the dirt at her feet and threw up a cloud of dust.  
  
'Jerk! Now I can't see,' she thought as she flew up and out of the dust cloud.  
  
'Ok, where the heck did he go? He can't have gone far. Oh well, he will have to come out eventually, I can just use this time to build up a really big Star Ripper.'  
  
As she set about building up her ki attack, she suddenly realized that it was getting darker. Ichigo spun around to see what had happened to the moon. It was still there, but there seemed to be something sucking all the light from it right into the lake. In fact, the lake had a rather eerie glow to it now.  
  
Suddenly the Jerk shot out of the water like a torpedo and was floating about 50 meters in the air. He had his arms spread out, up and in front of his head. Energy crackled between his hands.  
  
Looking down at her, with his head neatly framed by the energy, he spoke. "What is your name? I am Son Roshi. I would like to know yours so that I can give you a proper burial if you force me to kill you."  
  
'Son Roshi huh, probably means big Jerk in your language,' Ichigo thought to herself.  
  
"You will not need to worry about that, but I will be honorable and give you a proper burial now that I know your name you stupid jerk!" she said as she fired off her attack.  
  
"Wait Ah!!" he said as he had to rapidly move out of the way of the Star Ripper that she had shot at him.  
  
'Oh no you don't you Jerk!' Ichigo thought to herself as she redirected the Star Ripper back towards his back.  
  
"Fine be that way!" The guy said as he suddenly moved straight at her.  
  
As Ichigo started to float backward in preparation for a hand to hand confrontation, the guy quickly clapped his hands together. "Photon Array!" he streamed.  
  
* * *  
  
"What the heck is he doing?" Slip screamed at the screen. "Why is he sitting on the bottom of that lake?"  
  
"Ah, I don't know Slip. I do know that he must have a plan though." Tee said.  
  
"Hey Boxers, isn't that the Photon Array?" Tee asked.  
  
"Ah yeah it looks like that is what he is doing, but it is rather dark for that. Not to mention, that that attack is so slow it would never hit someone like her."  
  
"Well then why would he be preparing that attack?" Tee wondered aloud.  
  
"Duh! It is a distraction, but to what end?" Boxer stopped in contemplation.  
  
The three of them watched as Roshi jumped out of the water and then paused in mid air. The girl threw some sort of attack at him, and he dodged.  
  
Then Roshi powered up.  
  
"50,000... 60,000... 70,000 Holy crap Roshi is at 70,000!!! I bet that that is even stronger then Piccolo!" Tee said with an air of wonder.  
  
"72,400... he stopped at 72,400! At this power, he is going to make quick work of the girl!" Boxers chipped in.  
  
"How high is that?" Slip asked.  
  
"High..." both boys said at once.  
  
"Look, he threw the Array! Four of them! That is pretty good for it being dark and all!" Tee said.  
  
Then all three of them saw something that made their jaws hit the ground.  
  
"HE SPLIT IN THREE!!!! THAT'S THE TRI-FORM!!! WHEN DID HE LEARN THAT!?!?!" both Tee and Boxers shouted.  
  
"Why are there three Roshi's ON the screen? Tell me what is going on!!!" Slip demanded.  
  
"It is one of Piccolo's techniques. Actually, it is based on one of Tien's old attacks but Piccolo is the only one who uses it now. He split his power three ways. So now he can attack her from three sides at once!" Tee told her.  
  
"Yeah, and now each one of him has a power of like around 24,200 or so. This technique is used for training, he is committing suicide using it in a battle." Boxer replied slowly.  
  
"I wouldn't use it, but that does not mean that it is suicide!" Tee argued.  
  
Slip sat there in worry watching the fight while the two boys started fighting over the intelligence of Roshi's move.  
  
"Please don't mess up Roshi" Slip said to the air. * * *  
  
"Ah!" The bright flash momentarily blinded Ichigo as he launched the attack. As her eyes cleared, she saw that there were four very bright balls of light flying at her from different angles. What she did not see, was the guy.  
  
"Where the hell did he go?" She said aloud as she spun to dodge the first of the balls of light.  
  
"Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HA!" He screamed from below and to her left.  
  
Ichigo turned to face that direction preparing to block the beam.  
  
"MA-SEN-KO!" He shouted from above and behind her.  
  
"What?!!?" Ichigo said as she jerked her head around to see a big yellow ball of energy rushing right at her. "How in the heck did he move that fast?  
  
AHH!!!" she screamed as her ankle was suddenly grabbed.  
  
"Waaaa!!!" BOOOM!!! She was thrown right into the blue beam. It crackled and sizzled as it hit her in the left shoulder.  
  
WHAMMMM!!! BOOOM! A kick to the back sent her right into the big yellow ball. It hit her in the side of her left thigh and spun her around.  
  
"AHHHH THAT HURT YOU JERK!!! FIGHT FAIR YOU HONORLESS BASTARD!" She screamed as she regained some control of her freefall. Spotting the guy out of the corner of her eye, she sent her still oncoming Star Ripper at him.  
  
Then her right arm was grabbed. Whipping her head around, she saw him in two places. The one holding her arm kneed her in the gut before she could react and sent her sailing up again.  
  
"KAMEHAMEHA!!!"  
  
"MASENKO"  
  
The two words were spoken at once. Whipping around she saw another one of the jerks! Seeing that she was right in the middle of two on coming attacks, she dodged straight up.  
  
BOOOOOM!!  
  
She ran right into one of those stupid bright light balls. It blew up and gave her a mild sunburn. This more then anything else pissed her off. Ichigo had a fair complexion, but she had NEVER been sunburned before.  
  
The remaining attacks, including her Star Ripper hit the ground or each other and detonated in bright flashes of light. * * *  
  
Well there you have it. The first of the major fights has started. Please Review.  
  
I would also like you all to go read "Letters" It is a Gohan Videl fic co- written between myself and Kitsune Maxwell.  
  
Here be the link http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=880046  
  
I personally think it is good, so go read it. And while you are there check out Kitsune's other work. 


	13. The fight Continues

Chapter 13 The fight continues  
  
(Sunday night around 10:15 pm)  
  
  
"Ha.. Ha.. Ha.. It is called Tri-Form." The jerk said as all three of him fused back into one. "Now, if you want me to fight honorably, why don't you start by telling me your name?"  
  
Ichigo had learned a great deal in the last few moments. Pride before the fall, her father had always said. Until now, she had not had any idea what it had truly meant. Now she knew. She had been too prideful. Now she was paying for it. 'Well, fine,' she thought. 'I don't have to tell him my REAL name. He is full of tricks, is far stronger thsn I gave him credit for, but he is also so sure of himself that he is cocky. He is not going to shame ME on the battlefield.'  
  
"My name is Kinomi." She said as she flew up to hit him with a Ki Punch.  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi was not one to lower his guard. He ducked under the punch and hit her in the stomach.  
  
Pulling himself back, he barley avoided getting hit by her knee as she pulled it up towards his gut. He fired off a quick ki blast. It hit the girl in the side of the face and caused her to break off.  
  
'Darn, I used up too much energy in the Tri-Form. She is hurt, but not enough. I was hoping she would have lost some energy after my attacks, but it does not seem like that has happened.'  
  
Roshi dodged several ki blasts. After returning fire, and then closing in for a quick hand-to-hand, he knew he was in trouble.  
  
"Ha.. Ha.. Ha.. Ha.." 'I need to do something. She is not the least bit tired, and I am running low real fast. Dad told me to work on my endurance. When am I going to learn that the man never talks just to hear himself talk?'  
  
"HHUUUHGGGHHH!!!" Roshi gasped as the Kinomi girl came up and punched him in the gut. The bitter taste of bile filled his mouth.  
  
Roshi managed to grab her arm and drive his knee into her side as he pulled away from the punch.  
  
The two of them danced around each other in the air for several seconds. Both gave and received blows. Roshi was able to block most of the girl's attacks, but he was not going to be able to forever.  
  
* * *  
  
"What the heck is going on?!" Slip screamed at Boxers and Tee. "You two said that you wouldn't be of any help in this fight. Well if that is true why are the three Roshi's being able to beat the crap out of the girl now? He only has a power level of 24,000 verses her 48,000. She is twice as powerful as any of the three of him!"  
  
Boxers swallowed some of his pride and looked at Slip. "He is taking her by surprise. All the strength in the universe does little if you are not prepared."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Slip demanded.  
  
Boxers looked around the room. "Ok, take this poll here. It is supporting that piece of equipment, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Wel,l would it break if you put as much force into the side of it as that big piece of equipment is putting on the top?"  
  
"It would bend at the very least, but it wasn't meant to take a force from the sides!"  
  
"Well, that is exactly what Roshi is doing with the girl. He is hitting her where she doesn't expect him to and is getting the worst of it. The fact remains, if she were to hit back, Roshi would be in a world of hurt."  
  
Slip seemed to ponder for a while but stayed quiet. The three teens watched the display in awe for a while and stayed quiet until the fight suddenly started taking a turn for the worse.  
  
"Why isn't he beating the crap out of her? He was a lot stronger then that!" Slip yelled at the screen. "Why is he holding back?"  
  
"I don't think he is. Like I said, Roshi messed up with the Tri-form. He didn't do enough damage, and now he is winded. She is going to eat him up." Boxers said in a whisper.  
  
"Don't say that! The two of us working together couldn't beat Roshi when he was actually fighting. I don't think he has lost anything, and look the girl is down to 44,900 that is quite the drop in power." Tee argued  
  
"Yeah, but the GKSS says that Roshi is down to around 48,000 now!" Slip screamed. I don't know about you guys but I would say 72,000 to 48,000 is a bigger drop in power then 49,000 to 44,900!"  
  
"I still say Roshi knows what he is doing!" Tee exclaimed  
  
"Yeah, well I don't, he needs help, I can be there in half an hour if I leave now, you coming Tee?" Boxers said as he walked out the door.  
  
"Oh, alright! I'm coming wait up!"  
  
"Hey, you can't leave me here!" Slip exclaimed, "I'm coming with!"  
  
"Slip, you can't fight! You should stay here where it is safe." Boxers said.  
  
"Oh, no, you don't! I don't need any chivalry from you two, I can fly and I know how to stay out of the way!"  
  
"Why did Roshi ever have to teach you to fly?" Tee whined.  
  
"Yeah, well... Cry some other time how you can't make me stay here!"  
  
Boxers and Tee looked at each other. The two of them smirked evilly.  
  
"That sounded like a challenge." They both said as one.  
  
Slip's eyes got about as big as plates as both boys jumped at her. "AHHHHHHH... GUARDS HELP ME!!!! GUA..." the rest of whatever she was going to say was cut off by Tee's sock being shoved into her mouth. Slip looked like she was going to be sick, but the boys didn't care. They set about finding some high strength cord to tie her up with.  
  
* * *  
  
"Ha.. Ha.. Ha.. This sucks!" Roshi said as he was pulling away from the girl. 'I have to think of something,' he thought as he absent-mindedly wiped away some blood that was trickling down his face.  
  
Roshi jerked his hand back after he brushed it over the cut on his cheek. 'That hurts!' He realized with a start. 'That girl must have cut me bad when she slapped me with her hair. That stuff makes a nasty whip.'  
  
'Wait a minute! That is it! This Kinomi girl has over a meter of rope attached to her head! Why didn't I think of that earlier?' Roshi continued to berate himself for failing to see an obvious weakness in the girl.  
  
Roshi then flew right at the girl. He shot off a fairly good-sized Masenko directly at her head.  
  
The girl slid under the blast. Letting her feet shoot out in front of her, she slid downward for a moment. She then completed the slide with an aerial back flip and turned to face Roshi again.  
  
Except, he was not there. A quick use of the double image technique and Roshi was behind her. Right where he wanted to be.  
  
"Ya know, most warriors would be smart enough to cut their hair." He said as he grabbed the end of her braid. Turning around in a circle, he started to whip the girl around like a yo-yo on a string.  
  
"AAAAAAHHHHHH I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!! LET GO OF MY HAIR THIS INSTANT!!!" Showing more control then Roshi had given her credit for. The girl pushed her arm around until it was pointed directly at Roshi. She then shot a ki blast at him.  
  
Roshi shot straight down avoiding the blast as he pulled the girl down with him. Once he got to the ground, he whipped her right into a big rock. The rock shattered. Several trees and even the lake soon got a piece of the girl. After a few more over the back sledgehammer throws into the ground, she stopped resisting.  
  
Roshi was about to swing her around over his head again in a 360 when she suddenly darted around him in the opposite direction.  
  
The next thing Roshi knew, his arms were wrapped tight to his side and he was pressed face-to-face mere millimeters from the girl. To make matters worse, the girl had managed to wrap her braid around his neck, too.  
  
Roshi looked into her stormy Grey-blue eyes and knew he was going to die. Her hands were free, she was amply pissed, and having never having had any sort of close physical contact with the opposite sex, Roshi was panicking. He simply was unable to think of a way out of his predicament.  
  
"THAT HURT YOU, STUPID BARBARIC CRETIN!" She screamed into his face. She brought her knees up and planted them on his chest. Once she had a leverage, she arched her back away from him to tighten the strangle hold.  
  
Gurgle gasp... Roshi was starting to have trouble breathing.  
  
WHAM!! She walloped him in the side of the head. By reflex, he let go of her hair and tried to block.  
  
ZIIISSSHT, no longer being held onto, her hair slid loose. Still pushing away from him the girl lost her balance and started to fall backward.  
  
'Ahhhh! Rope burn!' Roshi thought as the noose whipped off of his neck. He started to get back up.  
  
WHAM!!! A stiff kick to the ribs sent him flying off into the trees.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo's head hurt. Actually, it throbbed. "When I get my hands on that jerk he is going to pay for that! No one touches my hair and lives! Barbaric jerk!" Ichigo said to herself as she rolled her head about stretching her neck.  
  
She saw Roshi catch himself in air and land some 16 meters away from her. He was breathing hard, but was otherwise not looking too bad. This angered Ichigo even more. He was making a mockery of her and should not be.  
  
'I have been too careless with this Son Roshi. He is a fighter who has shown to deserve my respect. Yet his actions today have been less then honorable. For this I must kill him to regain the honor his actions have cost me.' She told herself as she looked at him prepare for another assault.  
  
"You are very strong and have shown yourself to be a capable fighter, but you are going to lose Son Roshi!"  
  
"Oh, so you actually DO know my name!" He called back, "So why do you say I am going to lose? You have yet to gain the upper hand!"  
  
"No? You may be strong, but I am faster then you!" Ichigo proclaimed as she flew at him. "Speed is more important then power in any fight!"  
  
Roshi dodged to the left and attempted to kick her in the side but Ichigo blocked with her left arm and swept his left leg out from under him with her right leg. Roshi started to fall, but then pirouetted in the air and caught himself with his right arm.  
  
WHAM! Ichigo was caught in the back of the knee by his now free leg as he spun around. She let the momentum push her into a back flip and landed several feet away.  
  
"Damn!" she said as she landed. He can still move just about as fast as I can!  
  
"So you claim you are faster Huh?" Roshi said as he loosened his wrist guards. "Catch." Roshi threw the things at Ichigo.  
  
She jumped out of the way.   
  
*Thud* *Thud*  
  
They hit the ground with quite the impact. Ichigo cautiously watched him take off his boots as she went over and picked up one of the wrist guards.  
  
"Holy crap! These things must weigh 100 kgs!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, and the boots are 125 a piece." He said as he tossed one at her.  
  
Ichigo looked at him wide eyed as he stretched. 'What kind of monster fights with 450kgs of dead weight holding them down? He was fast before! Now he really is going to be moving! What kind of creature is he?'  
  
Ichigo wished she had taken the time to go get her scouter. She would give just about anything to know his real power.  
  
"Well, you ready for round three?" He asked. "You know, anytime you want to stop fighting and talk we can, I really don't want to have to hurt you."  
  
Ichigo was battered, bruised, and shamed. There was no way in hell she was going to stop this fight anytime in the near future. No, she was just going to have to pull out ALL the stops.  
  
"Any time you want to die, you can come and play." She said as she jumped into the air.  
  
'How can I beat him? He doesn't seem to have any weaknesses. He seems to always know where I am. He is fast, he is still stronger then me, AND as far as I know the heavy breathing was just a ploy.'  
  
'Well,' she thought, 'I might as well try to catch him off guard. One thing all those fights with Meron taught me is that becoming predictable is the same as letting yourself be beaten. Let's see how he likes his own attack being used against him.'  
  
"Ka-Me" he just stood there on the ground looking calm as a rock. "Ha-Me"  
  
"Ah so you want a duel huh? Well I'll play along. KA-ME-HA-ME"  
  
"HA" both of them said at the same time.  
  
Two blue beams shot towards each other. The beams were however, quite different. Ichigo had cocked her hands at an angle rather then the normal clamshell that Roshi used. This imparted a tight spin on the beam.  
  
The night ski was filled with a blue flash as the two beams hit. Roshi's beam was definitely the larger of the two, but Ichigo's beam drilled right into it dissipating the energy off to the sides as it continued on its way.  
  
BOOOOOOM!!!!! The explosion was quite spectacular. Ichigo was quite impressed with it.  
  
"MASENKO!!!" she heard him scream from inside the explosion.  
  
The yellow ball of energy shot at her at incredible speed.  
  
Ichigo dodged to the left and ran right into Roshi's fist.  
  
"Nice attack, too bad it never hit me." He said to her as he gave her a hook to the jaw.  
  
Ichigo's head jerked to the left and she saw stars.  
  
"I will not be beaten!" She started to throw hundreds of small ki blasts at Roshi.  
  
Boom, BoomBoomBoomBOOM! The explosions went off for several moments. When the smoke cleared she saw Roshi flying up leaving a trail of smoke.  
  
WHAMMMM!!! The ki blast he had fired before leaving the smoke hit her in the side and spun her around.  
  
Ichigo was rapidly loosing her patience. She couldn't understand how he always seemed to know where she was. His constant attacks from behind cover or behind her were getting old very fast.  
  
"Coward!!!" She yelled after him. "I am going to kill you and then when I am done with you I'll turn this planet into a smoldering ruin!"  
  
She flew after him as fast as she could, all the while letting her temper build.  
  
* * *  
  
"There, that should keep you from going anywhere!" Tee said to Slip as he closed the last of the padlocks. Boxer and Tee had first tied Slip up using high-strength cables, then titanium chains.  
  
Happy with having Slip tied up, the two of them walked to the door.  
  
It would not open.  
  
"What's with the door? It won't open?" Boxer said after the door refused to open.  
  
"hmmmiii hmmmiii" Slip managed to laugh through the gag.  
  
"Slip, we don't have time for this look at the GKSS! Roshi needs help!" Tee said as he pointed to the screen.  
  
The screen showed Roshi getting thrown through a cliff.  
  
"uuhh hiii mmmeeee" Slip demanded.  
  
"Nah.. you think that door can hold us?" Tee said.  
  
"NIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" Slip screamed through the gag as Tee fired a ki blast at the door.  
  
The beam hit an energy field in front of the door that Bulma had designed to block Vegeta's ki blasts when he was angry. Since Boxers had not hit the field straight on, the beam bounced away and flew into a large bank of computers. Unfortunately for the computers, they were not protected. (the field was designed to keep energy out of the lab, not in) The computers exploded. Pieces and parts of the now ruined computers ricocheted all over the lab. The fire alarms went off, and the CO2 foamers started foaming down the lab. Then a secondary explosion knocked out the power and everything went dark for a few seconds until the backup lights came on.  
  
"IIIIDDDDIIIIIIAAAAOOOOOAA!!!!" Slip screamed.  
  
"You tell him, Slip! Help me get this fire out before we suffocate in this smoke, Tee!" Boxers yelled through the smoke.  
  
"uuhh hiii mmmeeee!!! uuhh hiii mmmeeee!!!" Slip was frantically squealing from where she was chained. Finally giving up, she bit through the gag and spit it out. "Hurry and UNTIE ME NOW YOU IMBICLES!!!!!! IF YOU DISTROYED ANY OF MY DATA I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!! HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID??? THIS WHOLE BUILDING HAS THOSE FORCE FIELDS!!!! YOU STUPID RETARDED MORONIC IDIOT!!!!!" she yelled while thrashing back and forth in the chair.  
  
"Ignore her let's get the fire out and see if we can get the power back on." Tee said.  
  
"Um yeah... sure" Boxers said as he shot a small ki blast at Slip.  
  
"HEY WATCH IT what the HELL do you think..." the rest of her comment was cut off when the chains and cables suddenly fell off of her. "Uh... thank you, Boxers, at least you have some manners."   
  
"Oh, why couldn't they be more like Roshi?" she said more to the air then to anyone in particular as she ran over to the master power panel for the lab.  
  
"Main power should be back... Now." She said as she flipped a large breaker. Lights, fans and computers slowly started to come back online.  
  
With main power back the foamers got the fire under control in a matter of moments. When the smoke cleared, they finally could see how much damage Tee's errant blast had done.  
  
Looking up at the now dark main view screen, Slip started working. She then noticed Boxers trying to slink to the door. "Oh, no, you don't! That door is still sealed. Roshi can take care of himself, you two are going to help me get my lab back up and running again!"  
  
"Nice one, Tee!" Boxers said indignantly.  
  
"I'm sorry, but both of you seem to be forgetting the fact that if Roshi loses, this lab won't matter one bit. We need to go help him!" Tee yelled at the two of them.  
  
"No, you don't!" Slip yelled. "Roshi always seems to pull miracles out of his ass, he won't need your help and you two know it."  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi was not having a good day. In the fifteen minutes since the fight had started, he had lost any advantage he may have had. He could no longer feel his right hand. Well, that is the only thing he could feel was the grinding pain from various broken bones. Also, his right eye had now swollen shut. The girl had hit him in the face with one of her Ki punches. Roshi had never had a black eye before, and found it to be very distracting. To make matters worse, this Kinomi girl seemed to be catching on to his moves. He was catching her off guard less and less.  
  
"Why did I have to be so stupid?" he said to the air.  
  
He knew that he probably could have beaten the girl right off the bat if he had been willing to risk killing her. While she had done many terrible things, there was just something, something unknown about her. Try as he might, he couldn't explain it. But it was enough to make him decide not to try to kill her.  
  
THUD WHAM!!!!  
  
A blow to the side of his face brought him out of his thoughts. 'Damn! I am letting my mind wander,' he thought to himself. 'This is not good.'  
  
Roshi caught himself and started to turn around. The girl didn't give him time. A kick to the middle of his back sent him into large oak tree. Roshi flew right through the trunk of the tree and skidded to a stop on the ground on the other side. Then, the tree fell on him.  
  
No, this was not one of his better days.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo looked down at the tree. A smile crept onto her face. 'Serves the jerk right. Lot of flashy moves, but no endurance.'  
  
"Hey moron! You going to let that tree crush you, of do you still have some fight left in you?" she called down to him. I thought this was supposed to be some unconquerable planet. If this is the best you can do I might as well find someone else who can give me a REAL fight."  
  
Ichigo realized that she was letting her rage get the better of herself, but she didn't care. To many things had gone wrong on this trip. 'Why not let my baser emotions get out of hand? I might as well enjoy serving this jerk up for everything he deserves.'  
  
Just then there was a large blue explosion of energy from where the tree had fallen on the jerk.  
  
He shot through the air at her with a look of utter determination.  
  
"We never had to fight in the first place, but by KAMI I WILL NOT LET YOU BEAT ME!" He shouted as he slammed his fist into her face.  
  
Ichigo was knocked straight up into the air.  
  
"I don't know why you have been killing people, but IT STOPS HERE!" He screamed as he suddenly had a hold the back of her neck and right knee. The next thing Ichigo felt was his knee being driven deep into her stomach.  
  
"Auuh aaaahhh uuuggh" She couldn't breathe. 'Where did he find this new energy from?' "Hiahh" she shouted as she shot off a energy beam at where she thought he was.  
  
"KamehameHA!!!" she heard him yell.  
  
Struggling to get the world back into focus, she looked franticly to find the oncoming blast.  
  
She finally saw it. He was using it to propel himself faster then he could normally fly. Ichigo watched in wonder as he used the extra speed to catch up to and then fly right into her ki blast.  
  
BOOOOOMMM!!!!!  
  
When the smoke cleared, she saw him hovering above a small village. The entire back of his outfit had been blown off. Had he not stopped the blast, the village would have been decimated.  
  
He slowly turned to face her. She caught the look coming from the one good eye of Son Roshi. Never had she seen such rage.  
  
"If you do that again, you will not live to make the mistake a third time." He said in an amazingly calm voice. "I did not desire a fight, but you have made me your enemy. I will not let you continue to kill people pointlessly. Let us finish this away from here."  
  
"POINTLESS?!!! POINTLESS!!! You don't know ANYTHING!!! AND IF YOU DIDN'T WANT A FIGHT WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME?!?!?! YOU STARTED THIS YOU JERK!!! I AM SICK OF YOUR STUPID ARROGANT INSULTS AND ANTICS!!!" Ichigo lost it. She was pissed. This mission meant everything to her people. If she failed, they were as good as dead. Saiyans as a race were very proud. Ichigo would never admit that she could be beaten, and Roshi had just hit the wrong nerve.  
  
"Star Ripper," she screamed as she flew at him again.  
  
* * *  
  
Caught off guard by her sudden rage, Roshi was hit by the Star Ripper. He suddenly realized why it was called a Star Ripper, as the jagged points of ki energy shredded his outfit like thousands of little knives. From his armpit down to his waist, the left side of his gi was gone. The white Saiyan body suit he had been complaining about earlier had stopped some of the attack, but he could see the red tinge of blood starting to stain it.  
  
'Damn, if only my anger had held.' Roshi had heard many a story about the "Gohan" effect. It was said that when Gohan got mad, nothing could stop him. Well every so often, one of his decendants would have the same rage induced abilities. Up until a few moments ago, Roshi had not known if he did or not. But now he knew. He had it. For the few moments after she had triggered his rage, he was unstoppable. Now, he was back to normal, and back to wishing he could come up with a strategy. The Saiyan girl just did not seem to be running out of energy.  
  
"Blaze!" she yelled out from about 5 meters away.  
  
"Shit!!! KamehameHA!!!" Roshi barley had enough time to fire the beam and use it's momentum to carry him away from the oncoming blast of heat.  
  
Roshi completed his flip, and shot several small ki blasts at her. Which, she dodged without much effort. The fight was rapidly becoming an all out grudge fest. It had been going on for about 25 minutes already, and who knew how long it would take. Roshi knew that the girl had to be getting tired too; one could not fire off so many ki blasts and not be running low.  
  
Roshi's stomach growled. The last thing he had eaten was that fish earlier in the day, he was starving. It suddenly dawned on him, that that might be one of the reasons why he was so low on energy. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'Time to make the best of a bad situation.'  
  
Wham! A powerful blow to the back sent him into a tree. Roshi grabbed a large branch, and threw it at the girl. She dodged it only to run into his knee.  
  
As her head snapped around from the blow, she shot ball of ki at Roshi. He dodged it and was in turn kicked in the side of the head.  
  
The two of them fought fiercely for several minutes more. The girl was starting to weaken, and Roshi sensed his chance, willingly overextending himself he reached out to grab her left shoulder. 'If I can just get a good hold onto her and pin her I might be able to get her to calm down and talk' he thought as he tried to grab her.  
  
She dodged and twisted away from him spinning her shoulder beyond his reach. Expecting to grab onto something harder and more muscular, Roshi was surprised to grab onto something quite a bit softer.   
  
Roshi realized in an instant that his plan had two flaws. First, she was nimble and had mostly evaded his grasp. And secondly forcing her to continue her spin and pinning her back to his chest may have pinned her arms had he actually been able to grab her left shoulder. But in the current situation it left both her head and her left arm free.  
  
She gasped in pain as he grabbed and then clenched onto the first flesh his hand caught spinning her around. "OUCH, THAT'S ATTACHED, YOU PERVERTED JERK!!!" The girl yelled as she slammed the back of her head into Roshi's nose and then slammed her elbow into his stomach.  
  
He let go of her and she jumped away like she had been shot from a cannon.  
  
"You PERVERTED JERK!!! HOW DARE YOU EVEN ATTEMPT TO GRAB ME THERE, YOU STUPID PRICK!!!!"  
  
Suddenly feeling very embarrassed and rather sorry for the girl, Roshi stopped to apologize. He did not get very far as she almost took his head off with a roundhouse kick.  
  
THUD!!! Roshi impacted the ground and buried himself a meter or so under the surface.  
  
'Stupid idiot!!! This is NOT the time to be chivalrous. She is trying to kill you you dumb idiot. Never lower your guard. NEVER NEVER NEVER.' He mentally yelled at himself as he climbed out of the hole.  
  
* * *  
  
Oooowwww that throbs, Ichigo thought to herself as she readjusted her bra and watched the bastard climb out of the hole in the ground.  
  
BOOM!!! Moments after he leapt clear, the Star Ripper she had sent after him smashed into the hole.  
  
'I have got to end this before he really does kill me. This fight is taking too long, and I am loosing the advantage I once had. Feeling the strain on her muscles and joints she realized that it was going to take a while to recover from this fight. If only I had more energy. I can't even make a ki attack big enough to really hurt him anymore.'  
  
Seeing that he seemed to have recovered from the kick to the head, Ichigo got ready to fight again.  
  
During the next exchange, he kicked her in the lower back, right were her tail had been. The pain was incredible and she could not stop herself for crying out in pain. After bouncing to a stop on the ground, she got up and saw him watching her smugly from above.  
  
"I will NOT BE BEATEN," She yelled at him.  
  
"Neither will I," he replied as she flew at him.  
  
After giving and blocking several blows she finally had an idea. 'Well, since he was willing to use MY weaknesses so willingly, time to show him that MEN always have a weak spot.'  
  
Grabbing his hands the next time he attacked, she gave him a quick knee to the gut to break up his movements. Then deciding that this was her only chance, she quickly charged her foot with ki like she was doing a Ki Punch and kicked him full in the crotch.  
  
His eyes bulged out and then rolled back as he exhaled any air that may have been in his lungs. The kick had driven him higher into the air so Ichigo had to fly up to get to him.  
  
"HHHAAAAAAAA!!!!" She screamed as she hit him double handed in the back and sent him crashing into the ground. He hit an outcropping of granite and made a hole into it. The surface rocks then caved in on top of him.  
  
"Hah Hah Hah Hah," out of breath, and not able to continue much longer herself, Ichigo looked down at the hole.  
  
'There is No way he is still conscious. Ha, I won.' A small thread of Joy spread through her. 'Time to finish this.'  
  
"THAT'S RIGHT!!! DIE DOWN THERE YOU STUPID JERK. SERVES YOU RIGHT! I guess I should just find someone else to beat information out of!!!"  
  
Ichigo started to put everything she had into one final ki ball when she saw a small glimmer of blue light start emanating from the hole.  
  
* * *  
  
"There," Slip said as she welded two wires together. "The GKSS should be back up now, turn it back on. Let's see what is going on."  
  
"Ok got it!" Tee yelled back.  
  
The screen slowly came back up as the system warmed up. They saw the two of stick figure representations of Roshi and the Saiyan girl fighting hand to hand in mid-air.  
  
"Hmmmm.. Roshi is only at 18,030! That can't be right." Slip said as the readout for Roshi came up.  
  
The read out for the girl came up a moment later. 18,050.  
  
"Oh, my word. Look at them, though. The system is reading massive amounts of damage to the area in which they have been fighting. The two of them have been beating the snot out of each other for the last half-hour. I am not really a history buff, but I don't recall any of Goku's battles taking this long. Heck, I am surprised they still have this much energy." Boxers said.  
  
"AAAHHHHH!!!!!!" Slip screamed as she saw the Roshi image get kicked and then sent plummeting into the earth.  
  
The image disappeared.  
  
"AAAAHHHHHH its gone!!! ROSHI IS GONE!!!! Why is it not picking him up!!! ROSHI CAN'T BE DEAD!!!! WHO IS GOING TO TELL HIS MOTHER!!!! AAHHHH NO, HIS FATHER!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!! MY PARENTS ARE GOING TO KILL ME THEY LEFT ME IN CHARGE AND LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED!!!! AHHHHHHH AHHHHHH!!!!" Slip started screaming in shock.  
  
"Would you SHUT UP! We don't know if he is dead yet. Hey, look the image for him is back." Tee said.  
  
They watched on as the power level meter for the Roshi image started to tick upward.  
  
"What the hell is going on?" Tee managed to say.  
  
The meter passed 50,000. Then 60,000. 70,000. 90,000!  
  
"That can't be right." Boxers said as the meter passed 200,000.  
  
Roshi had yet to move but the image on the screen for him had an ever- increasing aura building up around it.  
  
"246,000! IT stopped at 246,000!!! What the heck is happening?" Tee said.  
  
"I don't know, but I am going to go find out," Slip said as she ran to the door.  
  
"Hey wait, we're coming with" Boxers and Tee shouted after her.  
  
* * *  
  
There was a flash, and every centimeter of ground of several tens of meters was vaporized in an instant. Ichigo saw her ki blast fizzle harmlessly against the on rushing wall of ki energy.  
  
"Oh no!" she said moments before the energy smashed into her forcing her into the sky.  
  
Standing on the ground at the center of the newly formed crater was Son Roshi. He had a huge flaring blue ki aura around him. And he was looking right at Ichigo.  
  
"I'm dead," she said to herself as he disappeared only to appear directly in front of her.  
  
"You want to fight dirty? Ok, we can fight dirty. Try this on for size!" Placing his hands on his forehead he screamed out. "Taiyoken!!!"  
  
Ichigo had been looking right at his forehead when the brilliantly blinding white burst of light shot forth.  
  
"AHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH My eyes!!!!" She wailed as searing pain blinded her. Her eyes hurt more then she would have thought possible.  
  
Then she felt him grab her left arm. Twisting it back behind her, he kicked her in the small of the back. She heard a sickening popping noise as pain shot up her back. Then she could no longer feel her legs.  
  
She then felt her elbow snap as he yanked her arm back around.  
  
A sudden blow to the face shattered her nose and several teeth like wooden twigs.  
  
She was starting to loose feeling. The pain was overwhelming. She knew she was dead, but Ichigo didn't care. She had one last try to hurt him back. Twisting her fingers on her right had as if wishing for luck, she fired a drill beam. From the tips of her fingers shot a small spinning beam. Ichigo knew not whether she had hit him or not as the pain slowly took her away.  
  
* * *  
  
Not having been prepared for such an attack, Roshi was speared clean through his side. Dropping the girl in a heap, Roshi knew he was in trouble.  
  
"BITCH!!!" He yelled as he threw on last ki blast at the falling girl.  
  
The blast hit her unconscious form and drove it into the ground.  
  
"Oww, that hurts..." Roshi said as he looked down at his bleeding side.   
  
"Kintoun!" he called out. He had left his bag of senzu beans in the cloud. The Kintoun flew up and he grabbed the bag.  
  
Feeling light headed both from the use of energy his body could not support, and from the loss of blood, Roshi passed out as he put the bean into his mouth.  
  
* * *  
  
End  
  
Ok, thank you all for reading so far. I would just like to remind you all that I do have a mailing list. If you would like to review and provide your address I will happily add you to my list.  
  
Anyway, as always, commentary on this or any other chapter is welcome. I really do want to know what you guys think.  
  
Thanks.  
  
The Smooster.  
  
p.s. Go read "Letters" By Myself and KitsuneMaxwell.   
  
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=880046 


	14. Truth and Dreams

Chapter 14 Truth and Dreams  
  
(Sunday night around 10:30 PM)  
  
Ichigo woke with a start. "Am I dead?" She wondered aloud. She looked around. She was in a white void. There was nothing. Just an eerie white glow in the room? Planet? Space? whatever. She couldn't decided, and really didn't care. Ichigo then looked and felt herself over. Her bones were not broken, and she had no wounds. She was also wearing a light silver-blue dress.  
  
"I must be dead. I don't even own a dress." She said in disgust as she looked down at herself.  
  
*Pop* Suddenly, a man appeared right in front of her. He was tall with black spiky Saiyan hair. He was also smiling at her in a friendly caring manner that only her father had ever expressed.  
  
"Ha, no, you are not dead." He said as he looked around. Raising his hands up and giving the void a good look over he continued, this is a dream. From what the Kaios tell me about dreams this is your vision of death." The smiling man said.  
  
Ichigo didn't like the sound of that one bit. If this were a dream why was she able to think and affect it? And why was there a man she had never seen before in her life in it. And why was she in a dress? "Then why am I in a dress? And who are you?" Ichigo demanded.  
  
The man reached out and laid his hand on her head. Normally she would not have allowed anyone to do such a thing, but for some unknown reason, she just trusted this man.  
  
"Your mother died. This is the dress you wore when you were at her funeral." He said as he moved her bangs out of the way so he could look her directly in the eyes.  
  
Ichigo's eyes opened in wonder as she suddenly remembered the dress, and that painful day.  
  
"But why does it fit me? I was only a child then! It makes no sense!"  
  
"I don't know, it is your dream." The man replied.  
  
"Well if it is my dream, why are you here? Who are you? I have never seen a Saiyan like you before."  
  
"Ha I am here because you need me to be here. You came looking for me, but you would not allow people to tell you how to find me."  
  
"What do you mean I came looking for you! I don't know what you are talking about! I came looking for the Super Saiyans, but they are just a myth. They don't exist."  
  
The man sadly shook his head and turned away. As he walked away, she realized that he did not have a tail. For a split second she wondered if her dream hadn't given him one since she herself no longer had a tail. But her mind couldn't accept the image of a Saiyan without a tail.  
  
"Stop! What happened to your tail?"  
  
The man stopped. He slowly turned back and looked at her.  
  
"When you wake up, you will learn the answer to that last question." He paused as if realizing something. "If you allow the truth to be told that is. I have already interfered more then I should have, but the sometimes you have to do the right thing."  
  
Suddenly the man looked off into the distance as if focusing on something. In a bright flash of energy, his hair turned golden and his eyes turned green.  
  
When he transformed, Ichigo could feel the power radiating away from him. She had felt something from the guy who had beaten her. From this man, however, she felt POWER. It was staggering. It was more energy then she could imagine; yet she could feel it.  
  
"The Super Saiyans are real Ichigo Kudamono, you just have to believe."  
  
He knows who I am! How, Who, What is he? Ichigo was a flurry of questions. But then, the dream faded to black.  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi woke up with a jolt. He was choking on something. Try as he might, he couldn't get whatever it was out of his throat. Kneeling on the ground grasping his throat, he finally looked around.  
  
What he saw would have taken his breath away. He was surrounded by utter and total devastation. Smoldering buildings were all that remained of cities. Huge gapping craters pocketed the landscape. People cried out in pain. Then someone saw him and pointed at him in terror. The crowds of people ran away from him in terror.  
  
The utter wrongness of the situation would have been laughable to Roshi before his fight with that girl. Now he was not so sure. Could he have done this? Where was he? What was happening?  
  
"No Roshi, you did not do this, and though you may be able to, I doubt you ever will." A voice said behind him. After a short pause it continued. "Although it is your fear."  
  
Roshi whipped around. There was a tall man wearing the familiar orange Turtle school dogi. At first Roshi thought it was his father, then he realized that the face and hair was wrong. The man was incredibly familiar, but he could not place him.  
  
'What is he talking about?' He thought to himself.  
  
"You fear that you will lose control and hurt those you care about."  
  
'He can read my mind? Who is he? What is going on?' Roshi thought.  
  
"Ha, I guess you can say that you are dreaming. And yes I can read your mind."  
  
'Well,' Roshi thought to the man, 'if you can read my mind and you say this is my fear, what is there to stop me from doing something like this?' He thought as he looked over the ruined scene.  
  
"Simple. You lost control of your emotions during your fight. You were wounded and in pain. You were fighting to protect people and were afraid of failing. Because of this fear you became angry and your rage caused you to loose control of your actions in your fight. So you worry that you will do it again." The man calmly replied. "Gohan could do what you did. In times of great need he could reach into himself and draw on a well of energy far greater then he normally had. But because of this, he never became what he could have become. He was always afraid of hurting the wrong people. But he forgot that it was only in his desire to protect others that he could call upon that power. I know you will never do such things, because you, like my son are a protector, not a killer."  
  
Roshi suddenly realize who the man was. 'Oh no! You're Goku!!! I am dreaming of Goku! That's it, I've lost it. No turning back. Talking to dead people in my dreams. Oh my, is Slip going to flip when she hears about this!'  
  
"So you say, but, um I am not dead." The man pointed to his forehead. "See, no halo!"  
  
'That girl must have kicked me in the head harder then I thought. This must be an effect of some concussion. This can't be happening.'  
  
Goku looked like he was almost angry. "Fine, don't believe me. But what I say is true. You can let yourself go in times of need. Don't be afraid of your abilities. Trust in your feelings and your gut senses, not in your intellect. Now swallow that senzu and wake up before you choke on the thing!"  
  
After hearing the man tell him to swallow, Roshi immediately swallowed.  
  
As Roshi came to, he heard Goku say one last thing. "Trust in your feelings and senses, not your brain. It always worked for me."  
  
The voice faded, and the next thing Roshi knew, he was laying on his back near a crater staring at the moon.  
  
He lay there for several moments to let his head clear. "This has been one hell of a day. I think I need to go take a nap."  
  
Roshi slowly got up and stretched. He looked himself over. "Man do I need a new gi." He said as he looked down at all the holes in his outfit over his chest, stomach, arms, and knees.  
  
Roshi then poked himself in the side about where his liver would be as he felt for a scar from the hole that had been there moments earlier. "Ha, all healed. I never will get used to these things." He said as he bent to pick up the bag of senzu beans.  
  
Shaking his head in resignation he continued to talk to himself. "Well, might as well find the girl so I can bury her."  
  
Walking to the crater, he looked down into it. Roshi found himself gawking. If he wasn't seeing things, small bloody air bubbles were being made as she breathed out of her smashed nose.  
  
"Is she still alive?" He said to himself as he flew down next to her.  
  
Roshi couldn't believe what he was seeing. She was lying there like a broken rag doll. Her hips and legs were bent at an impossible angle to her upper torso. Both of her arms seemed to be broken. Her left bent back behind her head with the bones sticking out at the elbow and her right arm was flopped over her chest and then back onto itself. Her entire face was smashed in. There was no way she should be alive. Yet, she was breathing.  
  
Roshi's first reaction was to kill her and be done with it. But, looking down at her lying there helpless, he couldn't do it.  
  
"I can't do it. Life is precious and without knowing why she came here, I just can't kill her and live with it." he said to himself as he looked down at her.  
  
'Which means I had better either take her to CC and stick her into one of the Regeneration Tanks, or give her a Senzu bean.' Roshi told himself as he pondered what to do next.  
  
Her breathing was starting to become more irregular. "Shit!, she is dying I need to do something! Letting her die here in front of me when I could have done something to save her life is the same as killing her." He realized. "Well.. I don't know what would happen if I gave her a senzu with her body all bent up like that" He said to himself as he set about trying to re-set bones and get her looking half-way normal.  
  
Roshi pulled her right arm off of her and quickly dropped it again.  
  
Suddenly realizing what should have been obvious, he looked her over. "Ha, Ha... This is great. She has less covering her now then Niko's string bikini. There is no way I can wake her up like this, she will freak and try to kill me for being a pervert. Great... Just great!"  
  
Roshi spent several moments panicking as her ragged breathing got worse and worse.  
  
"Wait a second! I still have all my camping stuff in the Kintoun!" Roshi pumped his fist into the air, "Yes!"  
  
Roshi quickly flew up to get a sleeping bag with which to cover the girl.  
  
Still blushing cherry apple red with sweat drops the size of the moon, Roshi finally got her all straightened out.  
  
"Man, she isn't all that bad looking if you forget all the wounds and broken bones and stuff," He said to himself.  
  
Roshi then stood there blinking as if trying to figure out if he actually said that. 'Bad thoughts Roshi! She just tried to kill you!' After slapping himself in the face, he finally covered the girl with the sleeping bag and put the Senzu in her mouth.  
  
"I sure hope this doesn't grow her tail back." He said as he forced her to swallow the bean.  
  
Roshi turned around and ran out of the crater. Once at the top, he lied down and peered over the side to watch her. If she was going to go Ouzaru, it would happen almost as soon as she woke up.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo's eyes snapped open. She had been falling. She remembered the man. Then... Nothing. There was the moon. What was happening?  
  
Ichigo jumped up and felt the blanket thing slide off of her.  
  
"AHHH!!!" She looked down and immediately pulled it back up and wrapped it around herself.  
  
She realized that her left arm and back were no longer broken. She felt her face. "What happened? Was it all a dream? Where am I? I thought I was dead." Ichigo patted herself down. She found everything except for her tail to be in perfect condition. Better in fact, then she had been feeling before her fight.  
  
Bewildered, she looked around. She was standing in the bottom of a big crater. Then she saw HIM.  
  
"YOU!!!" She said as she got ready to throw a ki blast.  
  
"Wait! Don't!" He yelled as he jumped up and frantically waved his arms around.  
  
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blast you into the next dimension Bastard!"  
  
He slowly walked down the slope of the crater to her. "I beat you once, I can do it again if you force me to." He said calmly.  
  
Continuing to charge the ki blast, Ichigo replied. "I don't know who you are, but if you knew enough about Saiyans to rip off my tail, you should know that we get stronger after each battle." She said trying to sound calm and dignified.  
  
'I may get stronger, but that guy is something else. I hope he buys my bravado. I really doubt I would be able to kill him.'  
  
The young man sighed and shook his head. "Haaaahhhhh, Kinomi, please listen to me, I didn't heal you just to fight you again."  
  
Ichigo's eyes jerked open and she let her mouth fall open. "You healed me? How? Why? Why would you heal me after the both of us tried to kill each other?"  
  
"I was never trying to kill you. And as far as the why would I heal you goes, I don't know, because I guess. Because it was the right thing to do." He replied softly.  
  
"The right thing to do?" Ichigo whispered back. She was suddenly in a flashback as she remembered her father talking to her about ruling once long ago.  
  
"There are many ways to rule my daughter, but you will find as I have, that many times a true leader, a good leader is one who is willing to do the right thing. Not because the right thing is easy, or because the right thing looks good to the citizens, but because the right thing to do is the right thing to do." He had said.  
  
Ichigo was lost in her thoughts for a little while. She snapped out of it when she realized he had just asked her something.  
  
"Repeat that, what did you ask me?"  
  
The young man cocked an eye at her. "The same thing I asked back at the tower. What were you doing here? Why are you attacking people for no reason?" He said coming a little closer.  
  
Ichigo felt a bit of anger surge through her veins, but she calmed herself. "I had to."  
  
"Why"  
  
"Because I had to find the Vegeta Saiyans and that was the only way I could do it."  
  
"What? What do you mean by that? Why do you think killing people would help you find Saiyans?" He asked almost angrily.  
  
"You wouldn't understand. Besides, it doesn't matter. All of those filthy worthless rebels must have died out long ago." She said.  
  
"What!?"  
  
Ichigo shuddered, he seemed to be getting worked up about this. 'Fine' she decided, 'I might as well tell him.'  
  
"Fine! Don't loose what little of your shirt you have left I'll tell you."  
  
"Good, now tell." He said as he sat down on the side of the crater.  
  
'He shows too much trust. I don't know about him.' She thought to herself.  
  
"Well anyway. I was sent here to find the Vegeta Rebels. They were a traitorous bunch of savage murderers and bruits. Their leaders were the Vegeta family. Anyway, to make the long story short, long ago, the legitimate king of the Saiyan race fell ill at a young age and was crippled. One of his Generals a man of distant blood relation to the king attacked and claimed the throne." Ichigo paused to think for a moment. "Well, the Vegeta family and its followers were eventually defeated by m... er the rightful King. After being exiled, they did not change their ways, and became hired thugs for an evil being named Cold. The Vegeta Saiyans were merciless killers and terrible horrid honorles in their allegiance with Cold. Then one day they all vanished through a wormhole."  
  
"Ok, Kinomi, since you are setting yourself up as being an Honorable person in this story of yours. Why follow them? Why act like them?" He said while glaring at her in a way that made her think he did not believe her story.  
  
Ichigo realized that she should tell him her real name... He deserved to know the truth, but since none of this mattered, she decided not to.  
  
"Because, the Changelings, Cold's people attacked Saiya. They were, are killing all of m... all of us Saiyans. So, I was sent to find the worthless Vegeta Saiyans. We had heard a rumor about one of them becoming a Super Saiyan and defeating Frieza."  
  
While she had been talking a massive storm front had moved in. It was beginning to rain. Ichigo wrapped the sleeping bag tighter around herself and started to shiver.  
  
"Look, like I said none of this matters anymore, cause it was just a stupid myth, a children's story from long ago. But my f... ah my King decided that if we could not pass up the chance of a Super Saiyan existing in the Rebels. So I was sent to find them. But I couldn't just ask for their help, after what we had done to them, they would have just killed me. I had to win their trust and respect. So I had to act like them so that when I found them they might actually listen to what I have to say." She said while shivering. The sleeping bag was not very thick and the wind and rain were going right through it. Less then two weeks ago she had been living in the middle of winter, it was a lot warmer here even with the rain, but the sudden change in temperatures as the storm moved in and the soaking down pour was chilling her to the bone.  
  
"Ok. I am not sure if I believe you." He said to her. "But I do know that you were wrong." He held up his hands to forstall any comments from her. "But that can wait. This storm came out of no where, I think our fight may have caused it, we need shelter. Come here." He said to her as he grabbed something from his stupid yellow cloud.  
  
Ichigo watched him search through a bag. Then he grabbed what looked like a little bottle and after climbing out of the crater, threw it into the wind.  
  
POP!!! A small domed house appeared and flopped onto the ground.  
  
"Not exactly roughing it, but I am glad I left my camping stuff in the Kintoun!" he said over the wind as he walked inside.  
  
Ichigo stood there. 'Should I go in? What is going on? First he rips my tail off. Then he laughs at me. Then he gropes me. Then he stops in the middle of a fight to apologize. Then he almost kills me. Now he has somehow healed me from what was surly fatal wounds and is acting so... well, he is is is... acting so trusting. Because it was the right thing to do he said? During our fight, he put himself in danger to save those people in the village? Maybe there is more to him then I thought, but would I have done the same thing? I didn't mean to endanger people who were not involved and I know I would have done just as much to protect them had the situations been reversed. The fact is the situations are not reversed. He is questioning me and my honor. I was fighting for the right reasons. That fact I am sure of. But were my actions that lead up to the fight right? No, I knew they were not when I was doing them. He has every reason to question my honor, but why does he trust me? Who is he?'  
  
Ichigo needed her questions answered. She followed him into the house.  
  
"Here," he said as soon as she hobbled through the door. "This is one of my old gis. It might be a bit big for you, but I think you will be more comfortable with something ah... more on." He said while turning a brilliant red.  
  
'Pervert!' She thought to herself as she grabbed the orange thing and walked into the bathroom he had pointed to.  
  
She was tying the belt when she realized that the symbol on the left breast of the shirt was the same symbol as what was on the front of that dream guy's orange outfit.  
  
She rushed out into the main room to find a table with more food on it then it looked like it could support.  
  
Ichigo stopped dead in her tracks. "What is this? Who are you? Why is this the same outfit as that guy was wearing?"  
  
Roshi stopped eating long enough to look at her and reply. "This is my supper, I already told you I am Son Roshi, and what are you talking about?"  
  
Ichigo was getting flustered. "I... Oh never mind! Just a stupid dream!"  
  
Ichigo watched Roshi gag on his chicken and then finally start talking to her again. "Wait! Dream guy? You saw some guy wearing that outfit in a dream!!?????"  
  
Wondering what the big deal was about she simply said "yes... Why?"  
  
"Wait! Describe him, what did he say?"  
  
Ichigo's stomach was starting to bother her. She started to reach for a large piece of chicken when his glare stopped her. "I'm hungry."  
  
"Fine, eat all you want, those Senzues are supposed to fill one up for ten days, but it never seems to work when they heal injuries. But anyway, about this dream of yours?"  
  
Ichigo glared at him. She was not used to taking orders or having questions asked of her. "Why should I tell you anything? I asked you my question first."  
  
He got up and looked her directly in the eyes. "You will tell me because what you say now will determine just how much I can trust you. If I decide I can't trust you, I may be forced to kill you, and I would honestly much rather trust you." He said in a tone of grim determination.  
  
"I don't believe you. Besides I am not about to take orders from the likes of you Jerk!"  
  
"GRRRRR" he made a growling noise low in his throat. "So help me Kami, fine! Kinomi, please tell me about the man in your dream."  
  
"I don't know why I am telling you so much, but alright, I will tell you, but only because you asked rather then demanded this time. He was tall had spiky Saiyan hair. He told me he was what I was looking for. Then He turned all golden haired and had green eyes. But he wouldn't answer my questions directly and he probably wasn't even a Saiyan so it was just a stupid dumb dream, why do you care?"  
  
"Why do you say he probably wasn't even a Saiyan?" Roshi asked.  
  
Almost to herself she mumbled "because he didn't have a tail."  
  
"So"  
  
Rage bubbled up in Ichigo. 'SO? SO? This Son Roshi knew so much yet he knew nothing!!!' "SO! SO! ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD??? NO SAIYAN IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD EVER BE CAUGHT WITHOUT THEIR TAIL!!! CRIMINALS ARE PUNISHED BY HAVING THEM REMOVED, AND ONLY THE STUPID LOSE THIERS!!! YOU TURNED ME INTO A WALKING DISCRACE TO MY NAME! A MOCKERY TO EVERYTHING I EVER HOPED TO BE! YOU RUINED ME! I CAN NEVER GO BACK NOW! THE PEOPLE WOULDN'T ACCEPT ME EVEN IF I COULD FIND THE VEGETA SAIYANS!!!" She screamed at him in vain. Forcing herself to calm down, she continued. "You don't know what it means to loose one's tail" she said as she sat down in a corner and hugged her knees to her chest.  
  
"No, I don't know what it meant to you to loose your tail, but there was no other way. In your arrogance you refused to even talk to the very people you were looking for." He replied to her from his chair.  
  
Ichigo sprung up like she had been shot from a cannon and slapped him in the face. "Don't lie to me Jerk! I saw no Saiyans. There are no Vegeta Saiyans left anymore!"  
  
Roshi got up and slowly rubbed the reddening mark on his cheek. "You're wrong. I am a Saiyan." He said back.  
  
"LIAR!!! I refuse to listen to you lie to me!!!" Ichigo screamed as she threw open the door and took off.  
  
Roshi looked on and shook his head. The storm was still raging fiercely. He decided she would be back once she had a chance to cool down. He sat down and started eating again.  
  
Ichigo flew out of the domed house. 'I can't believe the arrogance of that jerk. He isn't the least bit sorry for his actions. He doesn't even have a tail and he claims he is a Saiyan!!! Stupid jerk I ought to kill him for his lies.'  
  
Ichigo suddenly stopped in midair. "What had that dream guy said?  
  
"When you wake up, you will learn the answer to that last question. If you allow the truth to be told that is."  
  
'If I allow the truth to be told? Could the jerk be telling the truth?' "AHHHHHH DAMMMMNIT!!!!" She screamed to the air.  
  
Ichigo turned around and flew back.  
  
"Welcome back, that didn't take you long." Roshi said to her as soon as she floated through the door.  
  
"Prove it" She said to him.  
  
"Prove what?" he said back confused.  
  
"Prove that you once had a tail."  
  
"Oh, ok... I guess." He said. Ichigo noticed that he was getting progressively redder.  
  
'This guy blushes at anything. He should almost be ashamed of his lack of control.'  
  
Roshi turned around and pulled his shorts part way down. "There, you can see the stitches they gave me as a baby when they removed it."  
  
Ichigo backed into the wall in shock. "Your tail was removed when you were a baby? Who would be so cruel? Why would anyone mutilate their child like that?" she said to the air."  
  
"It seems it is time for me to tell my story." He said as he motioned her to sit down and eat.  
  
"You really are a Saiyan?" She asked still sounding quite doubtful.  
  
"Well yes, and no, I think I will start there. See, Frieza eventually took over from his father and grew frightened of his Saiyan minions. So he blew up the planet Vegeta. While I don't have the time to tell the whole story, in the end only two Saiyans survived, Goku and Vegeta."  
  
"Goku is not a Saiyan name."  
  
"Ah yeah... you're right um let me think. Kakarrot was his given name. He was sent as a baby to conquer this planet. Anyway, Goku was found by an old master of martial arts and after falling off a cliff and bumping his head, grew up as a human. The best master of martial arts who ever lived trained him. Goku eventually became a hero and saved the Earth many times." Roshi grabbed a muffin and ate it before continuing.  
  
"Anyway, at this time there were things called Dragon balls on the earth. They could grant any one wish once a year. Vegeta learned of them and came here to find them. After a long battle, Goku managed to defeat Vegeta. So Vegeta went to the Planet Namek which is where the Dragon balls were from."  
  
Roshi continued, "However, many of Goku's friends had died fighting Vegeta, and the dragon balls had been rendered useless. So Gohan, Goku's half- Human son, and two of Goku's friends had also gone to Namek to find those Dragon balls. To cut to the chase, Goku ends up on Namek only to find Frieza there as well. Vegeta was forced to work with Goku. Frieza kills Vegeta but losses to Goku. Goku fixes the dragon balls and wishes everyone Frieza had killed back to life. Vegeta settled on earth and also married."  
  
"Many generations later you have me and my cousins. I am a descendent of both Vegeta and Goku. If what you had said about my ancestors had not been true I would be honor bound to avenge you, however, once settling on Earth, even Vegeta found his honor. The reason for the removal of the tails is simple and three fold. One, we wish to blend in with normal Humans, and humans do not have tails. Two, We like having a moon, and as it becomes full every 28 days having a few hundred Ouzaru rampaging amuck would not be good. And finally, the tail is a weakness, not a strength."  
  
"WHAT?!?!! How can you say it is a weakness?!?! I would have pulverized you had I been able to go Ouzaru!"  
  
"Yes, I am sure you could have, which is why I had no choice but to remove it."  
  
"So you agree with me! Our tail is our strength, not a weakness!"  
  
Roshi made a weird spinning disk of ki. "What would have happened had I cut your tail off tonight while you were Ouzaru?"  
  
Ichigo realized the look on her face at that moment probably made her look like a caged animal. The question surprised her. "I don't know. I guess I would have turned back to normal."  
  
"And you would have probably passed out on the spot. The Ouzaru transformation gives you a lot of power, but it also takes a lot." Roshi paused for a moment. "Besides, earlier today you were rendered quite helpless by the simple act of grabbing your tail and ripping it off. If it is that sensitive why were you so careless with it?"  
  
Ichigo's blood boiled. It was one thing to be humiliated, but totally another to have it rubbed in her face. She tried to smash his face in only to have him catch her fist.  
  
"Wait, sorry, please calm down. I didn't mean to insult you. I was just trying to point out that you really haven't lost anything by losing your tail."  
  
'Haven't lost anything? I've lost EVERYTHING!' Ichigo screamed to herself in her mind. Realizing that he was still physically a lot stronger then she was however, she decided now was not the time to push the issue. "Fine!!! So what about Super Saiyan? The myth says that there is nothing stronger. So how strong is it?"  
  
Ichigo saw him give a look of concern? Before he answered. If you scouter works the same as the ones we have, I think Goku was at like 15 million when he beat Frieza. And he got much stronger later on."  
  
"That is impossible! Nothing has that much power!"  
  
"Goku was far stronger then you could ever dream." Roshi replied.  
  
"If the Super Saiyans are so strong, why didn't a Super Saiyan come fight me?"  
  
"Ummmm, ah... there has not been a Super Saiyan for about 300 years."  
  
"WHAT!!!" Ichigo said as she slumped down in her chair. "Then it was all for nothing. I've failed."  
  
"I'm sorry Kinomi, I wish I could help. I do believe you had good intentions even if your actions were less then stellar. We can fix your ship and go back with you if you think it would make any difference."  
  
Ichigo shuddered when he called her that name.  
  
"It won't. You have no idea how strong the Changelings are." She said dejectedly. I am going to lie down, I can worry about what to do in the morning."  
  
* * *  
  
Please review. More Reviews will = more updates. 


	15. Meet the Cousins

Chapter 15 Meet the Cousins  
  
Sunday Night at around 10:50 PM  
  
Roshi was just pulling on a new pair of pants when Slip burst through the door.  
  
"Hey Roshi that was quite the... Oh MY I DID NOT WANT TO SEE THAT!!!"  
  
"See what?" Boxers said as he walked in. "Oh um, yeah um, hey Slip ever heard of knocking first."  
  
Roshi quickly finished dressing and turn to look at the dripping threesome. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked as his face slowly returned to its normal shade.  
  
"Well those two are here to worship you for winning. I am here for the body. Where did you stash the girl? I want to start my autopsy before it starts to decay." Slip said while setting up capsules worth of lab equipment.  
  
"Ah she's in there, but..." Roshi replied.  
  
"Oh good you got it out of the rain. This is so exciting! Ah, I just thought of something, maybe I can collect some ah. (words lost in rambling) and extract some stem cells. Then I could clone her and we could run even more tests! That tail you brought back was incredible, the muscle to fat makeup was really unusual. Not to mention it was really hard to cut through the skin. Oh and the bone structure and hair was really unusual." Slip said as she collected her scalpel and some other tools.  
  
"Yuck, your ethics are morbid and sick Slip. I can't believe you are going in there to carve her up like a frog to dissect." Tee said in disgust.  
  
"Hey it is all in the name of science. Come to mama my little specimen..." she replied over her back as she walked through the door.  
  
"...but Slip! SLIP! She is not dead." Roshi finally finished.  
  
"AAACCCCKK!!!!" Slip screamed at the top of her lungs.  
  
Moments later Ichigo walked out of the room holding Slip in the air by the neck. Slip was struggling uselessly against Ichigo's grasp."  
  
"WHAT did you say you did to my tail you barbarian?!?!" Ichigo screamed into Slip's face.  
  
"Ack ah ah cha coough Wha. a a why ar are you st sti still a a live!" Slip gasped out.  
  
"You didn't kill her?" Boxers said to Roshi.  
  
"Um, no ah, put her down Kinomi." Roshi said trying to get some control over the situation.  
  
"What were you planning on doing? How dare you call ME a lab specimen! Scientists are all alike!" Ichigo was screaming at the gasping Slip.  
  
"Wow, this is cool! We caught Roshi dressing, and Look at what SHE is wearing!" Tee exclaimed. "So why is she in your old gi? Huh Roshi??? I mean, I know the girls all love you, but don't you think this is moving just a bit fast? I mean what would your mother say? Not to mention, isn't it a bit soon to be cheating on Mariah?"  
  
Roshi's mouth dropped speechless.  
  
"Ha so what is this one of those hate love relationships?" Boxer chimed in.  
  
Ichigo stopped screaming at Slip long enough to let what the two guys had said register. "WHAT!!! HOW DARE YOU! I would never do any such thing with the likes of HIM!!! It would be INDESENT!!! It's bad enough that the stupid jerk groped me, but what you suggest is disgusting!!" She screamed as she threw the now unconscious Slip across the room at Tee.  
  
Tee jumped out off the way and gave Ichigo a quick look over. "Go Roshi!"  
  
"AAAHHHRRRRRRRRRRR!" Ichigo screamed as she leapt at Tee.  
  
Roshi jumped forward and caught her around the waist. "WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE!!!!" Roshi shouted at them all. "Kinomi, that was uncalled for."  
  
Ichigo glared at Roshi. "Who are these people?"  
  
"Um, these are some of my cousins. They are also part Saiyan."  
  
"They don't act like it."  
  
"Yeah well neither do you! Going around and killing people!" Boxers replied.  
  
Ichigo just stood there and glared at the four of them. "If any of you mocks me again I Will Kill you." She said as she turned around to go back into the bedroom. Slamming the door shut, she left them alone.  
  
"Excuse me oh wise one, but why exactly is that bitch not oh, dead, tied up, or otherwise rendered unable to harm people? I mean, she came here after killing who knows how many people." Tee said.  
  
Slip groggily got up. Purple bruises were already starting to show on her neck. "Ahhhhh, I think I am going to have to wear turtle necks for a while. My neck is killing me. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SHE WASN'T DEAD?!?!?!" Slip said at practically the same time.  
  
"Well, I did tell you that Roshi wouldn't kill her." Boxers replied.  
  
"Yeah but you saw how the fight ended. He should have practically blown her to dust with that kind of power." Slip blurted in her defense. "Which brings me to my next question. Were you toying with her the entire time or what? Where the heck did you get that kind of energy?"  
  
"Yeah, that was amazing. What the heck was going on out there?" Tee said.  
  
"Yeah, I have got to hear this be explained." Boxers added.  
  
"So would I" Ichigo added from her doorway. "I was beating the snot out of you, and you turned the tables on me in an instant. I have never seen anyone control their power levels so much and increase their power like that."  
  
"Ugh, Go away this is a private conversation!" Slip yelled at Ichigo.  
  
"Since this conversation involves me, I think I have right to partake in it. If you have a different opinion, you can keep it to yourself or I will rip your tongue out to shut you up. You disgust me, and you will not speak to me again." Ichigo said back.  
  
"What give you the right to order any of us around? Last time I checked, Roshi here had just beat the stuffing out of your pretty little ass." Tee said.  
  
"KINOMI!!!" Roshi shouted as he grabbed her from behind to stop her from smashing Tee's face in. "Like it or not, you are not in charge here. Now if you want to be included COOPERATE and be NICE!! Or is that to much to ask?"  
  
"Would have it been too much to ask for you to have just killed her?" Slip quipped from where she was standing.  
  
Roshi struggled to keep his hold on Ichigo while throwing a glare at Slip that could have melted graphite.  
  
"I will not have that disgusting little priss treating me like I am some sort of animal to be used when needed!" She said back struggling in the chokehold.  
  
"Ok everyone truce?? At least until I can explain some things?"  
  
"Fine by me" Tee said  
  
"I don't have a problem with it as long as you don't Roshi" Boxers said.  
  
"Truce? You want me to be nice to her?!?! SHE KILLED at least 5 people! You guys are acting like I am the evil one here! All I wanted to do was simple scientific research!"  
  
"Scientific research!?!?! You said you cut up my tail to examine it!?!!? Well if you want something to examine I can rip your arm off!! Why don't you examine that?!?!!?"  
  
"Get away from me!" Slip screamed as Ichigo broke out of Roshi's grasp and flew at her.  
  
"You touch me again and I will gladly do research on your head." Ichigo calmly said to the cowering Slip. Turning back to Roshi, she replied. "I agree to your terms, I will refrain from killing them as long as they refrain from treating me like an animal."  
  
"Then stop acting like one!" Slip called out.  
  
"Someone gag her so she shuts up! Damn, and they claim guys are aggressively competitive. Fricken cat fight in here." Roshi said to Boxers and Tee.  
  
Both Ichigo and Slip gave Roshi death glares. But, it seemed that they were starting to calm down.  
  
"Well are you going to tell us what happened or do I have to stand here being nice to her all night?" Slip demanded.  
  
Roshi stood there with the four of them looking at him intently for an answer. "I ah don't know. I don't understand it myself. I was cornered. Kinomi here is right. She was clearly winning. I kept thinking of all the people that were depending on me; you guys, my mom everyone. And well... I got mad."  
  
"You just got mad?" Boxers said, "What do you mean you just got mad?"  
  
"I mean, I got mad. I was angry. I couldn't control myself. In fact, I really don't even remember the end of the fight. All I really remember is getting kicked and then the next thing I knew, I woke up and she was down in that crater over there."  
  
"You don't remember? Roshi do you have any idea how powerful you got at the end of that fight?" Tee asked sounding stunned.  
  
"Ah, well no, but yes." Roshi said meekly.  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Slip demanded.  
  
"He means that he doesn't remember doing it, but in the end of the fight, he broke both of my arms, my back, and my jaw. Since we had only managed to bruise each other earlier, he has some idea of the amount of power it took to do that to me." Ichigo said.  
  
"Yeah, what she said." Roshi replied.  
  
"I don't trust you, why are you suddenly all buddy buddy with Roshi?" Slip demanded.  
  
Ichigo glared at her and then paused before speaking. "I was sent to find the Vegeta Saiyans. Had I known that most of you people were no longer the evil bastards that left Saiya after the war, I would have acted differently. I did not enjoy killing those people. The reason that I am buddy buddy as you say is that while I can not forgive him for what he has done to me, he at least treats me with respect and I can respect him for that." Ichigo said while glaring at Slip.  
  
"You forgive him for what HE did!!! What about US forgiving you for what YOU did?!?!!" Slip demanded.  
  
"I am not asking for nor am I expecting forgiveness for what I did. I had wrong, yet justifiable reasons for what I did. Roshi had the same justifications for doing what he did but I cannot forgive him for it." Ichigo said slowly.  
  
"Ah right, so like um why are you in Roshi's dogi?" Tee asked.  
  
Ichigo glared at him. "Because My clothing was practically destroyed in our fight and I was indecent. Roshi was honorable enough to give me these so that I did not have to disgrace myself by being unclothed."  
  
Tee smirked and everyone in the room knew what he was thinking about.  
  
"Stop looking at me like that!" Roshi said as he started blushing yet again.  
  
"Well I am so glad you and the... grumble grumble... are hitting it off so well. It has stopped raining so I am going home. Keep her away from me and I will be sure to keep away from her." Slip said to the whole group.  
  
"You will give me back my tail." Ichigo demanded as Slip walked out the door.  
  
"Can't do that, it isn't yours anymore." Slip replied as she took off.  
  
Ichigo made a dash for the door but was cut off by Roshi, Boxers, and Tee. "Just let her go. It is late, I should be getting home. We can deal with her in the morning." Roshi said to try to calm her down.  
  
"I DON'T Trust her! I want It BACK NOW!!!" Ichigo screamed.  
  
"Not tonight! If you want to gain our trust, you will calm down and come with me. Otherwise we may have to lock up in a cell like a criminal." Roshi said.  
  
Ichigo realized that he was actually trying to help her. "Ok, but if I don't get my tail back I am going to kill her and none of you will be able to stop me."  
  
"Why do you want the thing back so badly? It is not like you can just attach it to your rear again." Tee said.  
  
Ichigo turned glared at him and then quickly reached down and grabbed him by the belt. Hoisting him up and then glaring up into his face she spoke. "If someone took something of yours that was of a PERSONAL nature, would you let them cut it or ah, them UP for some stupid immoral research?"  
  
Hanging there white-faced Tee meekly replied. "I see your point. Would you put me down now?"  
  
Roshi and Boxers both cringed involuntarily at her comment but she threw Tee to the ground without doing anything so they let it pass without comment.  
  
The four of them left the house and Roshi turned it back into a capsule. "Well, see you two guys in the morning. Kinomi come with me." Roshi said as he took off.  
  
Ichigo grimaced at the name and followed.  
  
Tee turned to Boxers. "So, does Roshi know what he is doing?"  
  
"No, not a chance. But then, he can at least control her somewhat." Boxers replied.  
  
"You call that control?!?!"  
  
"Well, I think she wanted to castrate you for your rather stupid comments, but she didn't" Boxers replied.  
  
"Fine make fun of me! But come on man I mean you were thinking the same things she isn't bad looking... Did you see those eyes? Man Roshi has all the luck." Tee said with a far away look in his eyes.  
  
"Yeah well dunderhead, at least I didn't SAY it. And if you think there is EVER going to be anything between them then you are even dumber then you look."  
  
"Whaddaya mean by that?"  
  
"Well you were too busy ogling her to notice, but Roshi was watching her like a hawk the entire time we were talking. He doesn't trust her. There is more to her then we know and he didn't tell us everything. Besides, she hates him. Think about the way she glares at him." Boxers replied as he took off towards the Western Capitol.  
  
"Yeah, well she is still hot. I've never seen Slip bristle at the mere sight of another girl before." Tee said back.  
  
Boxers blinked a couple of times. "Ha, you may be right. Slip is so used to being the center of attention I bet she's jealous and doesn't even realize it."  
  
"Oh, and I still say Roshi's lucky." Tee looked off in the distance for a bit. "I would give anything to get my hands on a girl built like that."  
  
Boxer's slowly shook his head. "Um, Tee, correct me if I am wrong, but are you or are you not dating a teen swimsuit model? Besides, that Kinomi girl would rip you to shreds if you ever tried anything."  
  
"Yeah, but it would be fun while it lasted." Tee replied with an odd grin.  
  
Boxers just shook his head. "Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee, when are you going to grow up and look beyond the physical?"  
  
"What? There's more to girls then what they look like?" Tee replied in mock surprise. "I'm not an idiot or a player Boxers. I've been dating Aiako for almost a year now. I was just trying to be funny but you wouldn't play along and let me have my fun."  
  
"I can understand that, but you should maybe learn to keep more of you so- called fun thoughts in your head when you are around women. They don't tend to like it much."  
  
Tee readjusted his belt, "tell me about it." * * *  
  
Please Review.  
  
The Smooster 


	16. What now?

Chapter 16. What to do now?  
  
Sunday evening at around 11:30 PM  
  
Ichigo flew slightly above and a few meters behind Son Roshi. Even though she was deep in thought, her eyes glared daggers at the young man.  
  
Ichigo had never had any problems classifying people. With very little information to go on, Ichigo could normally determine whether a person was genuine or fake, trustworthy or not. From there, she could easily determine how best to treat them when they came calling. Everyone had goals, and talents, and weaknesses. If she knew the person's goals then she could exploit their weaknesses while using their talents to accomplish her ends. Such was normally the day-to-day relation Ichigo had with people around the Palace.  
  
She couldn't get a read on Roshi. 'Ahh! I want to scream! I don't understand him. Right now, he is flying in front of me, opening his back to attack. Less then an hour ago I had every intent to kill him.' Her eyes narrowed. 'I think I still do, but that is not the point. Why is he trusting me?'  
  
Ichigo could feel herself wanting to trust the young man, but she urged herself to be cautious. 'No one does anything without reason. What does he want? He said he could fix my ship and even offered to go back and help me fight the Changelings. Why? What does he have to gain by helping me?' Ichigo flew on in silence for a while pondering that point.  
  
'He held back information from his cousins while I was in the room. I don't buy into his I got mad story. If one could develop that kind of power simply by getting mad, I would not be here because my people would not have reason to fear the Changelings.'  
  
'He acts like he respects me. That is why I can feel myself wanting to trust him. He beat me, but rather then rub my nose in it, he acts as if that was just an unfortunate mistake.'  
  
Ichigo thought about her now missing tail and managed to give herself a phantom itch. After a few minutes of flight the itch that felt like it was at the tip of her tail was starting to grow unbearable.  
  
'This is just great. Why did that jerk have to rip of my tail? Why couldn't my father have just let me stay and fight at home? He could have sent a lot other more seasoned warriors here to look for the no existent and total waste of time Super Saiyans. Why me?'  
  
'Because you are Ichigo Kudamono and you are the Crown Princess. Your father sent you because he knew you would be one of the first to die had you stayed. Sending you away was not only a chance to save you but through your actions save your people. Just because things are not going your way does not mean you should give up or question yourself. So stop complaining and take some responsibility for your actions. As father always says: Life is change and uncertainty. Deal with it.' She scoldingly answered herself.  
  
The past week had not proceeded to Ichigo's expectations. She had to admit that she was feeling almost betrayed by her father. He sent her on a wild goose chase for something that didn't exist.  
  
It wasn't the first time she had thought those same thoughts. Ichigo's thoughts drifted to a training mission her father had sent her on a few months back.  
  
* * *  
  
"Good morning Daughter." Her father had said as he walked briskly into the smaller dinning hall near the kitchens where Ichigo had been eating her breakfast.  
  
"Finish quickly, I have some things for you to do."  
  
Ichigo pulled the nargia, a large meaty fruit native to Saiya that tasted something of melons and looked like an overgrown pear, away from her mouth. "Could you tell me while I am eating, or is this something best left for private chambers?" She asked knowing full well that the small dinning hall was probably just as private if not more so then her father's office.  
  
Her father had done his best to look inconvenienced. "I suppose I can start now. I have some special training for you to do."  
  
This caught her interest. Her father usually allowed her to follow her own training schedule. He only changed it when there was something he found lacking.  
  
Her father continued, "as soon as you are done eating, I want you to pack a few provisions for a two week surveillance, survival, and diplomacy mission."  
  
This had surprised her. Military intelligence was a highly important aspect of any military, and then of course of any war. However, she was not nor would she ever be a scout. Scouts were week yet intelligent warriors who could be sent behind enemy lines for surveillance, and not be detected overly easily. With a power level of over 25,000 Ichigo would be picked up by scouters immediately.  
  
'Besides,' she had thought, 'the only people we are at war with at the moment are the Changelings, and they only send there best here, there is no reason to send scouts to them.'  
  
"Alright, so you want me to pretend I am a scout, then what?" She asked.  
  
Her father cocked an eyebrow and replied, "I said nothing of the sort. I simply said that you were going on a surveillance mission." He handed her a map of an area on the far side of Saiya. "Go there, gather as much intelligence on the area as you can. They enemy in this exercise will be denoted by a red bandana worn on the head or arm."  
  
"Sounds simple enough." Ichigo had replied.  
  
"Yes, it does," He replied, "but you had best use the resources provided to you well, or you will fail. Certain things need tact rather then brawn, unless you are tactful, this isn't going to be an easy mission."  
  
When she had gotten to the area her father had sent her to, she found a small farming village. The only thing remarkable about the village was the hot springs nearby that had been turned into a public bath resort. The resort was only for women, as it did not have a male bath at it. This had surprised Ichigo, as Saiya was about at patriarchal as a society could get. The fact that there was a women's only bath that she had never heard of surprised her.  
  
Surprise aside, she realized that this was not going to be an easy exercise. She had not been allowed to bring a scouter along so she could not use it to identify potential threats, so she had to find them herself. Also, since it was a populated agricultural area, wild life would be scarcer, and she couldn't just go steal food from the farmers. If she wanted food from them she would have to buy it. As she had not thought to bring money with her this meant she would be forced to do manual labor. Ichigo had never been pampered, but she also didn't like lowering herself to the level of the common worker. She was a warrior and the future Queen, manual labor was below her.  
  
After scouting the area and dismissing the women at the bath as vacationers, she found a farmer who owned a vineyard and was in the process of harvesting his grapes. She saw he also had a large herd of meat animals, and what appeared to be his own butcher shop.  
  
Ichigo changed out of her armor and into more normal looking civilian clothing and let out her hair. She was never pictured or seen in public without her hair in some sort of a braid, so she was fairly certain that her real identity would not be discovered. She then inquired into if she could find employment for a few hours a day for the next several weeks helping him and his other workers make the wine. She asked only for food in return for any work she would do.  
  
The farmer readily agreed, and sent her to start hauling large baskets of grapes to be mashed for the wine.  
  
Ichigo was curt with her fellow employees. She kept her distance and they kept theirs. Ichigo went only by the name Kinomi. Kinomi had been her grandmother's name. Her father's mother had been known to be a wise woman of sharp wit and sharper tongue. Her father had given her the nickname Kinomi for the times when she was being particularly devious or crabby. As not being discovered would take a bit of deception now and then, the name worked well for her.  
  
Ichigo had worked quickly and hard for several hours a day for the farmer. The rest of the time she spent scouting, and looking for the supposed enemy. Once, she almost confronted a young woman and her child as they walked down the street of the city. The woman had warn a red scarf in her hair, and it was only through observation that Ichigo realized that she was just a mother with a red scarf in her hair, not some hidden enemy.  
  
As the end of the second week neared, Ichigo had become tense and agitated. The enemy had never shown, and she was not one to accept failure easily. On the final day with four hours left before she was to report to her father, she decided that if she was going to fail, she would at least have enjoyed one bath at the resort first. It would be awhile before she would get back knowing her father.  
  
Temper matching the heat of the water, she walked into the pool and sat down letting the warm nearly hot water cover her.  
  
The next thing she knew, someone had grabbed her hair and pulled her head out of the water.  
  
"Ghah, your hair is a mess! What have you been doing for the past two weeks?"  
  
Ichigo blinked the water out of her eyes and looked at the woman who had spoken to her. "Momo? What are you doing here?" She had asked astounded.  
  
"Waiting for you to surrender." Momo said smiling while reaching back to pull the red bandana off of the back of her head.  
  
Ichigo had been too shocked to be mad. "This was all a set up. Where are the rest of the people I was supposed to be looking for? You're not a warrior and you wouldn't be here alone in a war game."  
  
Momo shrugged and looked to the sky. "Believe what you wish. Your father said to tell you that once you had found me you could enjoy the rest of your two weeks and then report to him at the designated time which if I am not mistaken is in about two hours now."  
  
Ichigo found her father in his private workout room lifting weights. Big weights. He tossed a bar of weights that had to weigh several tones aside like it was weightless and turned to look at her. "So, did you learn anything from this?"  
  
Ichigo glared at her father. "You tricked me. There wasn't any team. There wasn't anyone to stop. No one attacked. No one damaged anything. And Momo isn't even a warrior. What kind of combat training was this?" She demanded hotly.  
  
Ichigo could see the anger boiling beneath his skin. It was one of the few times she could recall her father ever truly being mad at her. "Follow me," he said as he stormed out of the room.  
  
Ichigo followed him to his office where he pulled a wine bottle out of some ice opened it and poured himself a glass. He did not pour one for her, and she was not about to ask even though she had been drinking wine since she was very young at meals and other formal occasions. He then re-corked the bottle and tossed it to her.  
  
"What is this?" She asked confused as she caught it.  
  
"I don't know. What is it?" Her father shot back.  
  
"It is a wine bottle, so I learned how to make wine and that was about it in the past two weeks, are you going to find fault in that as well?"  
  
"No, but do you even know the name of the man you worked for in order to feed yourself these past two weeks?"  
  
Ichigo was about to ask what it mattered what the man's name was when she stopped and abruptly closed her mouth.  
  
"This wasn't a training mission at all was it?"  
  
He father sat down at his desk and looked across it at her. "Oh, it was, but not the type you thought it was. This was a lesson in life. And from the looks of it you failed."  
  
Ichigo had a sinking feeling. She looked at the wine bottle and then turned the label towards her father. "Don't tell me the farmer was Anzu." She said meekly.  
  
Anzu had worked at the Palace as a gardener and herbalist in her grandmother's time. He was well known for making the best wine and other spirits on all of Saiya.  
  
Her father slowly shook his head, "He was able to get a hold of me the day you asked to work for him. He wanted to know if there was a reason why you were in common clothing and going by your grandmother's name."  
  
"Well, I didn't want anyone to know who I was."  
  
Her father sadly shook his head. That unrulely ragged tangled mess of hair you have from being away from a commonly packed item known as a brush is purely your mother. However, your face, your eyes, and even your attitude are almost a duplicate of your grandmother. She had never expected to be Queen. She was just a simple Elite warrior doing her duty until she caught the eye of my father. She never did drop the warrior's view of things."  
  
"You, however, are not simply a warrior. How many times to I have to try to get you to realize that? I told you that this exercise you just finished required tact not brawn. Does the term Diplomacy mean nothing to you? With hardly any effort you could have included the people of that town in your efforts. If there actually had been an invasion force of some sort coming you could have figured out who had at one time been a warrior, or who could fight and from there you could have set up at the very least an ad-hock militia."  
  
"Had you even spoken to Anzu once, about things military he would have been more then proud enough to tell you that of his three children, his youngest, a daughter, is your age, and is currently training to become an Elite."  
  
"You have a rather powerful double standard in effect here Ichigo. You want people to respect you and hate the fact that a lot of the warriors won't just because you are female rather then male. Yet at the same time you are unwilling to respect anyone who is not a warrior. You have an attitude that I have not done my best to beat out of you that people who are not warriors are not hard working, are not important, and are not vital."  
  
"Take a drink of that wine. If you wish to believe that it did not take years of practice, training and hard work to make wine of that quality then you are deluding yourself. Most of the people you will rule are not nor ever will be warriors. If you don't learn from them and learn to work with them then you won't be fit to rule regardless of how strong you are."  
  
"But, I..." Ichigo started to defend herself.  
  
"I understand. This is not what you had expected, or what you had planned for when I sent you on the mission. Get used to it. The unexpected happens. Life is the unexpected. Life is change and uncertainty. Deal with it. If you cannot, then you will forever be reacting rather then leading." Her father said as he left the room leaving her to brood over her thoughts for a long long time.  
  
* * *  
  
'I did not expect things to happen as they have, but that is no excuse. I have to adapt to the changes and use them to my advantage.' Ichigo sighed and glared at Roshi. 'In the end, it does not matter what he wants. It is what I need to do that matters. I cannot allow myself to trust him. He openly claimed to be descended directly from the Vegeta family itself. The blood of traitors flows in his veins.'  
  
Thinking more on her problems, Ichigo finally made her mind up. 'I failed in my mission, because there are no Super Saiyans. But, that does not mean that the mission itself was a total failure. As long as this Roshi follows through with his promise to fix my ship, I may as well see if I can learn anything more from him. Then, once my ship is fixed, I have to go back. If I stay, Blizzard might come looking for me.'  
  
Ichigo sighed again, 'Yes I have decided. This Roshi said they could fix my ship. As soon as it is fixed, I am going to go home. I have delayed the inevitable far too long already. I will fight and I will die, but nothing can help that now. It is the only honorable choice left to me.'  
  
* * *  
  
'What am I going to do with her?' Roshi was worried. 'My mom is going to go nuts. Oh, I wish my dad was here, he would be able to control the situation. My mom is going to freak. Then she is going to say something terrible, and Kinomi is going to go nuts and... OHHHHHH What am I going to do?'  
  
Roshi heard the girl sigh and felt her ki spike for a moment before it settled back down again. He could feel her glaring daggers into his back. 'Not only that, but she is not telling me everything. There is some truth to what she said earlier, but I don't think I can actually trust her.' Roshi decided.  
  
'Why me? Why does my life always have to be so... eventful. What did I ever do to fate? Kit kidded that fate was going to bite my hand off if I didn't fess up to Mariah. Well, I think fate wasn't happy with an arm, it wants to eat me whole. Goku and Gohan never had to deal with insane Female Saiyans who wanted to kill them. Dende why me? First I get into that fight at school, now this. My Mom is never going to let me out of the house again.'  
  
Roshi flew on deep in thought.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo followed him for several minutes and then decided that she needed to take out some frustrations on some nearby mountains.  
  
She started to slow down. The young man in front of her did the same. He hadn't even looked back. It was like he just Knew she had slowed down.  
  
'How can he do that? It's like he just knows where I am and what I am doing. I don't think I caught him by surprise during our entire fight, and now he even slows down to keep me from falling too far back from him.'  
  
"How do you do that?" She demanded.  
  
"Do what?" Roshi asked innocently as he turned back to look at her.  
  
"Don't act stupid. How did you know I had slowed down?"  
  
"Oh, well I just knew." He said as they came to a complete stop.  
  
Ichigo glared at him through have closed eyes, "how, are you a telepath or something?" She demanded  
  
"Ah... No, I just well sensed it." He replied.  
  
Ichigo was getting annoyed. She realized that he was not being very forth coming in his explanation. "How did you just sense it? It is not like you have a scouter hidden on you. My scouter would have detected any cybernetic devices."  
  
Roshi gave out a long sigh and started talking. "Ok I can try to explain it. Kinomi, how do you know how powerful a ki attack will be before you release it?"  
  
Ichigo paused for a bit. 'If he is trying to divert my inquiry he will pay in the end.' "Well, I just do, I don't know how to explain it."  
  
"Ok then, my ability to sense you and your energy is very much the same thing, I can't really explain it." Roshi said while thinking about how relatively easy it was to explain. He just did not really trust her. Until he could trust her he was not about to teach her something she could use against him.  
  
Ichigo felt herself deflate a bit as her temper flared. "Well, how did you learn how to do it then? No one is born with the ability to truly control their ki, it has to be taught."  
  
"Ah well," Roshi paused, "I couldn't tell you really. It just kind of came with the ki training I guess."  
  
"Well, if you can't or won't teach me how to do what ever it is you do to be able to sense me, then I want to go get my scouter. Then at least I might be able to know if someone is sneaking up on me."  
  
Roshi thought for a bit and decided that it would not hurt for her to get her scouter back. "Ah ok, I don't think it was damaged in the fighting."  
  
"It better not have been!" Ichigo said back. 'I want my armor back too,' she thought. 'This outfit is comfortable, but I feel strange wearing it.'  
  
The two of them hurried off towards the lake where Roshi had found her stretching earlier in the evening.  
  
Ichigo landed and quickly put the scouter on. It made some beeping noises and then settled on readout. "What! It claims you are only at 5,000! It must be broken!" She screamed.  
  
"Ah, I don't think so. Can you test yourself with that version of the scouter?" Roshi asked.  
  
"Ah yes." Ichigo said as if that was so obvious only an idiot would ask. She then reached up and made some adjustments. She then powered up as high as she could.  
  
"Hmmmmmm that is high, I would guess it says about 70,000 or so." Roshi said to her.  
  
Ichigo quickly powered down again and glared at him. "69,890 to be exact. I didn't realize you were that sensitive. No wonder you don't have to use a scouter. I would really like to learn that ability. How far can you sense by the way?" 'No wonder he knew where I was at all the time. That ability gives him an incredible advantage in combat. It is no wonder he won't tell me how he does it. Only an idiot would give away that kind of information. I may be trying to use him as a tool while I am here, but he is smart enough to know what not to give me. Now the only trick is to figure out how to force it out of him.'  
  
"Oh um if I am really calm and at peace, I can sense people on the other side of the planet." He said nonchalantly.  
  
"WHAT?!?!!? The other side of the PLANET?!?!! I don't believe you!" Ichigo screamed. 'The best scouters we make are not event that accurate.'  
  
Roshi just shrugged. "You want your armor too?"  
  
Ichigo looked over and saw her bodysuit and armor lying on the beach. "Yes, since I don't really want to carry it I think I will just put it on. Turn around." Ichigo blushed in anger and then continued. "You have already seen and touched far too much." 'I am the Princess. By tradition, my person is sacrosanct. He ripped off my tail, he grabbed my chest while we fought, and he saw me almost unclothed. That is thrice he has demeaned the honor of my person and by rights if we were on Saiya I would have him castrated, fed his own balls, and slain just on principal.'  
  
Ichigo glared at the armor she held in her hands, 'the only problem is at the moment I need him alive so he can fix my ship and teach me how he can sense ki.' Ichigo absent mindedly stated to untie her belt before looking up at Roshi. He was still looking right at her. "Well are you going to just stand there you stupid pervert? Turn around!"  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi watched, as the girl seemed to get lost in thought for a moment or two before looking up and yelling at him.  
  
"No, Kintoun can carry your armor back there is no reason for you to change clothing here." He said sternly.  
  
"How dare you argue with me! I demand you turn around this instant."  
  
"What are you going to do if I don't?" Roshi asked. He realized that he was dangerously close to starting another fight with the girl, but he didn't like this sudden change in her attitude and he was hoping she would slip up and reveal a bit more about herself.  
  
Ichigo saw the look in his eyes and even though her scouter still read 5,000 he scared her just a little. The memory of how thoroughly he had beaten her less then two hours ago was painfully recent. "I... don't know." She finally replied.  
  
"Well like I said, you can have the Kintoun carry your stuff, there is no reason for you to undress here." 'Not that I would mind another look... what the hell am I thinking?' Roshi filled his head with images of her trying to kill him, and then thought about how Mariah had hugged him after the movie just a few days earlier.  
  
"What is the Kintoun?" Ichigo asked.  
  
"Oh, it is my cloud. Here it comes." Roshi said as he pointed to the on- coming cloud.  
  
"How is that supposed to help?" Ichigo asked in disgust.  
  
"It will carry your stuff back, like I said." Roshi replied.  
  
"Right, and just how is a CLOUD supposed to carry anything?"  
  
Roshi started laughing. He couldn't help himself.  
  
"What is so funny? WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?!?!?" Ichigo demanded.  
  
"I'm sorry, but how do you think I could stand on it earlier today and sneak up on you without setting your scouter off?"  
  
Ichigo paused for a moment and suddenly realized what had been bothering her since coming to this side of the wormhole. "Good question, but the more important one is why does my scouter say that you only have a power level of 5,000? I KNOW you are a lot stronger then that. I also fought a green man on Namek who showed up at anywhere between 5,000 and 50,000. I have never encountered anyone who manipulates their energy output to that level without transformations! How are you doing that?" 'He can sense and control the level of ki he puts out that a scouter can detect. Stealth is always and important part of any fight, but he takes it to a new level. Either one of those abilities would be able to help me against the changelings. They may not be enough to change the outcome, but at least they would give me a better chance to hurt them.  
  
Roshi didn't expect a question like that. Not only was she acting curious about something she was being genuinely honest about that interest. But at the same time he was somewhat confused. "What are you talking about? Right now you are only at about 12,000 or so. You don't seem to have any problem controlling your ki."  
  
"Yes, but I am standing on the ground trying to relax not doing anything. How about now?" She said as she floated into the air."  
  
"Ah about 50,000 or so."  
  
"Exactly! She said. The only way I can keep my ki down is to not do anything. I am willing to bet a scouter would detect me at more than 5,000 in my sleep. I happen to know I have good reflexes." She shuddered and looked like she was in pain for a moment, then continued. "When you grabbed my tail this afternoon you had a power level of FIVE!! I can guess that you can ride the stupid cloud but you were floating there and even shot that hot ki blast at me while standing in mid-air. I remember everything in those moments perfectly. Your power never went over TEN. Don't lie to me don't give me any stupid stories. How do you do that? You not only masked your ki, but you were able to act with the speed and power of someone of at least my ability!"  
  
Roshi heard the voice of his father from just a few weeks earlier. "You also must realize that lowering and hiding your Ki are two distinctly different things. Lowering your Ki only takes relaxation and clarity of thought. Hiding your Ki takes serenity of soul, mind and spirit. It is far superior because it costs you none of your strength. By hiding your Ki you can also surprise your foes. You broadcast your strength before you spar and it will always be a weakness." His father had said.  
  
'I could probably teach her easily then I could explain it. Explaining takes words. Teaching it just takes beating on her until what my dad said to me clicks with her. But can I trust her?' Roshi pondered for a while and was lost in his thoughts when he was brought back to reality.  
  
"WELL!!! Are you just going to stand there with that dumb look on your face? Or are you going to answer the question?" The girl demanded.  
  
"Ok Ok calm down Kinomi!" An idea suddenly popped into Roshi's head. "But first, I need you to sit on the Kintoun."  
  
"Huh oh! What!?!" Ichigo said after looking from him to his cloud.  
  
"I want to see if the Kintoun will let you ride it." Think up a good reason Roshi! He thought to himself. A bright smile almost lit up his face, but he stopped it. "It is picky about who it lets ride it. If I will let you ride it then it can carry your stuff." She ought to buy that Roshi thought to himself as he finished talking.  
  
Ichigo didn't know if he was playing a joke on her or what but out of curiosity, she decided to do what he asked. "So what do you want me to do?"  
  
"Just sit on the cloud. Relax and let it support you. If it will let you ride it, it will support you. Otherwise you will fall through." Roshi said as the Kintoun floated down to the ground at her feet.  
  
Not knowing what else to do, Ichigo slowly sat down on the cloud.  
  
Roshi shook his head. "No No, relax. Don't float above the cloud, let it support you."  
  
"Hey, it is not the easiest thing to trust a yellow cloud is going to hold you up! Just give me some time!" She yelled at him before flopping on her back on the cloud.  
  
She very slowly sank through the cloud and fell onto the ground. "Augh! Stupid cloud!" Ichigo said as she rolled to her feet. "What was that? Just another attempt to humiliate me?"  
  
"No, but if you wish to think that way you can. Roshi said while thinking, 'Hmmm, she seems to be almost pure-hearted enough to ride the Kintoun. Must mean she has something nagging on her conscience that she isn't letting come out. Well, trust is earned, maybe if I earn her trust she will open up enough to earn my trust.'  
  
Ichigo jumped at him to shake him out of his thoughts. "How dare you mock me! I am not going to take this!"  
  
Roshi ducked under her swing and drove his fist into her stomach. He then grabbed the collar of her gi. Twisting it into her throat, he drove her back into a tree.  
  
* * *  
  
Before Ichigo could react, she had been hit in the stomach with the force of a freight train, and slammed into a tree. Roshi held the collar of her gi and in his twisting grasp, it was choking her. She was about to attack back when she focused on his right hand.  
  
He held his right hand out in front of her face with his fingers splayed like hooked claws. Bright green energy played from fingertip to fingertip. Focusing on his hand through her scouter she saw that the numbers were still going up and had passed 95,000 when it shut itself off to prevent it from blowing up.  
  
Roshi spat in her face as he talked. "I dare because less then two hours ago, you were trying to kill me. I dare because you mercilessly killed at least five defenseless innocent people on your way here. I dare because you carelessly threw a ki blast that would have wiped out an entire village during our fight. I dare because of all the people on this planet when I saw you broken; twisted, and mangled bleeding body at the bottom of that pit, I alone chose to heal you. Anyone else on this planet would have just let you bleed to death and you would have deserved it. Get this and get this now. You are in no condition to be making demands of anyone. You have clamed that you are better somehow then my ancestors, well it probably wouldn't take much, but you have yet to show me anything that makes me believe you are any better then Vegeta was the first time he came to Earth!"  
  
"Goku let him live so he could learn and find his decency and honor. Likewise I have let you live. Don't tempt me, I am not Goku, and I doubt I am as forgiving." He said as he gently put her down and turned around to walk away.  
  
"You have not given me much of a chance before placing your judgment." Ichigo said back glaring at his back.  
  
Roshi wiped around. "Better then you, you judged us before you even knew we existed. If you prove trustworthy I could teach you how I sense and hide ki if you would like to learn how. But, I can't really explain it." He said as he walked over and grabbed her stuff and placed it on the Kintoun. "But for now, can we just go and get some sleep?"  
  
'He is nothing like any other Saiyan I have ever seen. Well, he isn't a Saiyan as he is a hybrid, but that is not the point. I possibly have been judging him by my expectations and not by his actions. The thing is, I don't understand his actions so how can I judge them? At least that blue haired girl acts like an immoral scientist.'  
  
"You are right, I have judged you on what I expected and not how you have acted. I want my tail back away from that barbarian. Then we can see if we can put our differences behind us." She said as diplomatically as she could muster at the moment.  
  
"Fine, if you would follow me." Roshi said as he once again took off for his house. * * * Ok, thanks for reading, now go click that little button at the bottom of the screen that says "Click here to Submit Revew"  
  
And to you people who keep saying you will review when I get a new chapter up. This chapter is almost totally new. Review please.  
  
The rest of you may review as well ;) If I actually get reviews I may post 17 before next week. But no reviews = no post  
  
If you have read this and posted review,  
  
Go read Jimbo's Veteta Redemption http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=821268  
  
Also good reads include,  
  
Arthain's The Saiyan war http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=883389  
  
Dracon's To save a Kingdom http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=866651  
  
And Kitsune Maxwell's Glitch http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=630268  
  
All of these are fairly original or very original works All of them deserve more Reviews. Please read and review them. 


	17. Examining Oneself The endless Night

Chapter 17 Examining Oneself  
  
Monday 12:15 AM  
  
Ichigo silently followed Roshi to a large estate in the woods with three large houses on it. The largest was by no means as large as the King's Palace on Saiya, but it was larger then some of the smaller palaces that her father kept for when he wanted to get away for a while.  
  
Ichigo had been brooding over what Roshi had said to her, what she had thought about him. He was right, she had judged him even before she had met him or any of the people on this planet. 'What was it he said to me? When he threw me into that tree?'  
  
"I dare because less then two hours ago, you were trying to kill me. I dare because you mercilessly killed at least five defenseless innocent people on your way here. I dare because you carelessly threw a ki blast that would have wiped out an entire village during our fight. I dare because of all the people on this planet when I saw you broken; twisted, and mangled bleeding body at the bottom of that pit, I alone chose to heal you. Anyone else on this planet would have just let you bleed to death and you would have deserved it. Get this and get this now. You are in no condition to be making demands of anyone. You have clamed that you are better somehow then my ancestors, well it probably wouldn't take much, but you have yet to show me anything that makes me believe you are any better then Vegeta was the first time he came to Earth!"  
  
'He was right. I have not acted any better then the image I had preconceived for him. I have not been myself. I have fallen back into my old mission routine. My father had almost broken me out of such bad habits.' Ichigo thought as she watched Roshi punch a code into the door lock and open the door to the house.  
  
"This is more or less our guest house. Goku's son Gohan built it after he got married." Roshi said to her as he led her up the stairs past numerous old family pictures and relics. After opening a door near the top of the stairs, he entered a large bedroom. "You can stay here. Make yourself at home. I doubt there is any food in the Refrigerator, but the pantry will have canned and dried food."  
  
Ichigo pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and looked around the room. Ichigo glanced around at the various stuffed animals and posters on the walls. 'This is not a warrior's room. It is too soft and too cozy. However, this house seems to be built for comfort rather then elegance.' "Is this your sister's room?" She asked after deciding now was as good a time as any to attempt to be more diplomatic and civil.  
  
Roshi laughed, "ah no, It is my umm great great great great great... well just say it is Pan's room. She was Goku's granddaughter. She died almost 400 years ago."  
  
This startled Ichigo. There were numerous shrines and memorials to people on Saiya, but this room was clean, and had not collected the dust of neglect. "Oh, ah I see. Why is everything still like this? I would have thought that other people would have used this room since then."  
  
Roshi thought for a while and then replied. "Ah well, we do, occasionally we have guests that don't stay in the main house, but mostly this room is just left this way out of respect."  
  
Ichigo picked up a large stuffed teddy bear that was dressed in an orange gi. "This Pan must have done something remarkable to earn such great reverence."  
  
Roshi walked to a large bay window, which had a built in circular couch in it and opened a window blind. "Well, she did, but there are other reasons. You see, this was Gohan and Videl's house. After Pan got married, she lived in Satan City for a while. After Chichi, who was Goku's wife, died, Ubuu and Pan built the big house over there." He said as he pointed to the Son family mansion. "The first Goten who was Gohan's brother built that house over there." He said as he pointed to another big house on the family estate. "My cousin Gotan and his wife live there now. He is 14 years older then I. He is a lawyer but does fairly well with martial arts. His son Gomen is two now. Anyway, I am getting sidetracked. Pan lived an extremely long time. She outlived her husband and both of her children. After Ubuu, her husband passed away, Pan moved back into this house. I guess from the stories that are passed down, she became fixated with her past and restored the house to what it was like when she was a child. Since she was the last person to actually live in this house, we have not changed anything since she died."  
  
Ichigo glanced around. "How strange."  
  
"Why do you say that?" Roshi asked inquisitively.  
  
"Well, we have shrines to great people on Saiya as well, but we would never preserve something like this. Senility at the end of an excessively long life is nothing to be proud of." After realizing what she had just said Ichigo quickly held her hand up. "Wait, I did not mean to demean you or her. I just..." She trailed off when she realized that there was no believable thing to say, and that Roshi did not seem overly upset.  
  
"You were just speaking your mind. I actually prefer that to dealing with someone who carefully chooses their words." Roshi paused, and then continued. "Kinomi, at least I know you were being honest a moment ago."  
  
Ichigo mentally kicked herself and made a note to stop using her Grandmother's name. Eventually, at least. There was no point in being deceptive and the current situation was being highly disrespectful to the memory of a great woman. Even if she had died before Ichigo's birth and therefore, Ichigo had never met her.  
  
"Anyway, Pan's senility is a topic of some debate in my family. I have read some of her later diary entries, and I honestly do not think she was senile. She just longed for connection. Her children were dead, and her grandchildren had their own lives. As for leaving the house the way it was. Humans have a phrase that goes: History repeats itself. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."  
  
Ichigo shook her head. We have a phrase that means much the same thing: He who forgets will be forgotten. It is always linked to a story about the civil war between the Vegeta Tra... the followers of the Vegeta family and the followers of... of the true King. But I understand. This house is a link to your past so regardless of how it came to be it has become important in and of itself."  
  
Roshi blinked a few times before answering. "Yes, that is it exactly."  
  
Ichigo sat down on the bed and looked back at Roshi. "Tell me something, this has bothered me this entire week. Where are all the warriors?"  
  
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that question." Roshi replied.  
  
When the Vegeta... When those who followed the Vegeta family left, they took almost half of the warriors on the planet. In fact, from the histories, they took only warriors. No scientists, no farmers, no laborers, only warriors. Why is it that only you, a boy no older then myself was the only one to come to fight me? Where are all the veteran warriors?"  
  
* * *  
  
The question surprised Roshi. Not because it wasn't something that was a logical query, but because he was wondering much the same thing. If the Saiyan home planet was truly under attack why send only one girl? From what stories had said about Vegeta's opinions about Bra, women were generally thought of as too valuable to risk, and were not normally thought of as being overly great warriors. 'I can worry about that later,' he reminded himself.  
  
"Well Kinomi, to be honest, there has not been a warrior in the traditional Saiyan sense of the word on Earth since Vegeta died about 470 years ago."  
  
"Then what do you call yourself?"  
  
'Good question.' "I would guess I would call myself a martial artist. The term Warrior denotes someone trained for war. Until you came along I had never been forced to fight for any purpose other then fitness or fun."  
  
Ichigo gawked at him as if he had just grown a second head. "Fun? You just about killed me and you claim that your training was mostly for fun? What about the people who actually train for real? What kind of monsters are they?"  
  
'I don't know if I should be telling her this, but...' "Ah well, to tell you the truth, I am one of the people who trains for real. Like I said, there are no more warriors. Most of the Saiyans on the planet are like Slip. They might know how to fly, but that is about it."  
  
"What?!?! And you call yourselves Saiyans? This is... is... outrageous! You don't even have enough Saiyan blood pumping in your veins to take training seriously?" Ichigo yelled jumping up and pumping her fists.  
  
"I beat you didn't I?" Roshi said while he picked up and replaced a stuffed tiger she had knocked off the bed.  
  
"But! Ah... You... ARRGGHHHH! Ok, so what about your instructor. There has to be someone better or at least older then you to teach you what you know. Why were you the only one to come fight me? Where are the adults?"  
  
"Kinomi, calm down. My father is on his way to Namek. The reason I knew about you and was somewhat prepared for your arrival was because Slip's parents are also on their way to Namek, and they left her in charge. When you killed those researchers, she panicked, and then when you fought Piccolo on Namek we started really preparing. Now whether you can accept it or not, my father, myself, and possibly one or two uncle's are the only people that could have even stood a chance at beating you. There are no adult warriors. There are not even really any adult martial artists that compare to you or I. That is why none of them became involved."  
  
Ichigo sat down on the bed in shock. Roshi watched her calmly for several minutes before she spoke again.  
  
"And your cousins. What about them? How many hybrids are living on this world?"  
  
'Hmm, our ways are too alien to her. She can no longer accept us as actually being Saiyans. Well, just because she won't claim us, does not mean I won't claim to be both Saiyan and Human. Especially after what Slip told me last week.' "I guess you have met all of the cousins my age. For some reason we really don't have very large families so there are not that many descendants from Goku or Vegeta. It is really hard to explain all the relations. Anyway both Tee, and Boxers are around 24,000 but they are really the only two close to my age who train. All in all, I would say there are about 70 or so living Saiyans on Earth. And of those, there are probably about oh 12 or so with any appreciable training in Martial Arts."  
  
"This is a lot to absorb. However, from the way you talked, I take it your family is by far the strongest." She said to him inquisitively.  
  
"Ah well, yeah I guess. My particular branch of the family is descended from both Goku and Vegeta. Throw in Gohan and Ubuu, and you have the four strongest people to have ever lived." Seeing her reaction Roshi quickly added "at least to my knowledge."  
  
Ichigo thought for a little while and then commented. "I want to know something."  
  
"Ah ok, what?"  
  
"The humans, as you called the people who live on this planet, who I ran into are incredibly weak. Not one of them has a power level of over 50. From what I can infer from your commentary, your family has almost completely lost its Saiyan heritage. How is it that interbreeding with such weaklings has not caused you to become just as weak as them?"  
  
Roshi took offense to the comment. But, he realized that she had not meant to be so crude with her comment, however, at the same time there would have been more eloquent ways to ask that question.  
  
"Humans in general have no ki training. They as a people however contain great heart. They are also very intelligent and quite able to adapt to various conditions. They are also innately skilled in the use of ki. My ability to sense you and control my ki are both traits that humans never learn, they just have. That is, if they can manipulate ki, they have those abilities. Krillan, Videl and Tien all had power levels of close to or greater then 1 million. Ubuu was not a normal human, he had the soul of a demon, but he was in the end even without transformations every bit as powerful as Goku. Please do not judge anyone because of their blood." 'You may think less of me because of my hybrid heritage, but to think less of my abilities is a mistake I cannot allow you to make without penalty.'  
  
Ichigo chewed on her lip for a few seconds. "Not what I expected at all." She said to herself almost to softly for Roshi to hear. "Good night." She said suddenly as she started moving stuffed animals and things onto a shelf.  
  
Roshi was surprised at the sudden harshness in her voice after she has seemed so amicable earlier. "Ok," he said as he turned to leave. "Be ready to train at seven, or you can train in you night clothes. Good night." He said as he closed the door. 'I think the only consolation I have is the fact that she seems just as confused about me as I am about her.' Roshi thought as he slowly walked back to his house.  
  
Roshi had known that his mother was not home several minutes before they had gotten to his house. This worried him even more then Kinomi did.  
  
'She must have gone to look for me,' he decided. 'Great, now what am I going to do?'  
  
He found his mother's cell phone sitting in the recharger. "Man the cell in the car is broken! Can't mom ever remember to take her cell? Well guess I can't call her and tell her I am home. I suppose I will just have to writer her a note."  
  
Roshi wrote out a note to tell her that everything was fine and he was home. He then went up to his room and shed his clothing. Walking to the bathroom he took a quick shower to attempt to relieve some of his tension.  
  
It didn't work. After drying himself and putting on a pair of shorts he flopped onto his bed. "1:36 and I can finally get some sleep. Only problem exhausted but not the slightest bit tired. La la la la this sucks." He said to his empty room.  
  
Looking around he saw that a light indicating that he had messages was blinking on his computer. 'Well, might as well at least see the messages.' Roshi thought to himself as he slowly got out of bed.  
  
"You have 128 video messages, three emails, and one quick note." His computer informed him as he opened up the message center.  
  
'128?!?!' Roshi thought before he looked at the directory and saw whom the messages were from. Slip had left 125 of the 128 video messages.  
  
"Ha, that girl is obsessive. I bet every single one is wondering where the heck I am." He said as he looked at the time index for the calls.  
  
Scrolling down he found one from Mariah and one from Kit. He quickly opened the one from Mariah.  
  
"Hi Roshi. I hope your thing at Capsule Corp went well. You left so quickly I didn't even get to ask you what was up. Anyway, It is now 5:30 and I was wondering if you were free tonight. If you are call Kit and she can track me down. It would be nice to go do something."  
  
Mariah smiled and then took a breath. The look in her eyes changed. "Roshi, I feel sort of funny saying this, but you know you can trust me. You don't have to run away. I just, well, I just wanted you to know I'm here if you wanted to tell me something."  
  
"Anyway, later man! Hope to see you soon!"  
  
'Well, seeing as it is now almost 2 a.m. I don't think we are going to be able to do anything.' Roshi thought feeling a bit cheated and slightly disappointed. "I wonder what she meant about telling her stuff. She was at Kit's. If Kit is going behind my back and telling Mariah things about me I'm going to strangle her. And Mariah looked well what was that look in her eyes?" Roshi said aloud to himself.  
  
Deciding that pondering the minds of women would only lead him into senility, he played Kit's message.  
  
"Hi Roshi, how are you? Anyway, I just wanted to gloat a bit. I don't get to do that with you much. I warned you. I tried to help, but NO! You had to go and brush my words aside like they didn't mean anything. Well guess what. You messed up. You messed up and Mariah is worried."  
  
Kit rolled her eyes and laughed. "Knowing you, you are probably totally lost and completely confused about what I am saying so I will spell it out. You hugged Mariah today. She came over to my place and asked me if I had noticed any odd behavior from you lately. Well, since you have been less then good at returning messages this past week when you are normally almost anal about returning them I told her yes. She then went on to tell me about how you practically ran away from her and seemed almost inconvenienced to see her today. She also said that you hugged her. She wanted to know if I thought you were on drugs Roshi. Did I or did I not tell you that you looked like you had hooked yourself up to a steroids pump and selected inflate? She's worried about you, and I don't want to get into the middle of it so I told her to talk to you."  
  
"Now, since I don't want to be the go between, between the two of you forever, I want you to repeat after me."  
  
"Kit is always right. If Kit tells me to do something, I will do it because Kit is always right."  
  
"In the absence of Kit, I will seek out any other female with the possible exception of Niko and she will be right. I will then listen to her because she will be right.  
  
"In the future, I will not try to think for myself because as a male, I am totally clueless to the female sex, and I will seek out opinions from Kit or other females on every given chance I have."  
  
"Now, if you repeat that saying and actually do at least some of what I have just said, you may have a chance. Anyway as the next installment of wisdom from Kit, I am telling you that if you don't want this problem to get bigger, you had better call me back before 8 p.m. tonight. Got that? BEFORE 8 p.m."  
  
Talk to you later Ape!"  
  
'I shouldn't be laughing. This isn't funny.' Roshi thought as he tried desperately to stop laughing.  
  
After a few moments he wiped the tears from his eyes and shook his head. 'Well, Kit had better start looking for a guy so I can give her some advice or I don't know what I will do with her.' His mood suddenly sobered. 'Shit, Mariah is worried over nothing. Now I am sure the two of them will want an explanation as to why I never called back. What am I supposed to tell them? Ah yeah I was fighting to protect the earth from this Saiyan girl. Yeah, that would go over well.'  
  
Realizing that no matter what he did it would probably be wrong, he decided to just watch the next message. This one was from Tee and it was left only a half hour previous.  
  
"Hey Roshi.  
  
So, you lucky dog you. Did you really grab that girl's chest in your fight? Common, I need to know. What did it feel like? Oh, and her ass to. Did you notice she has a really nice ass? I bet you grabbed that too. How did you get so lucky? Anyway you can tell me about it later." Tee made a face and ended the message.  
  
Roshi just looked at his computer in shock. "Tee you are one hormonal 15 year old." He said as he shook his head. Looking down at his offending right hand, he cupped it slightly. 'It felt...' Roshi stopped, slapped himself on the forehead and shook his head.  
  
"Computer record reply to last message."  
  
"Recording"  
  
"Tee, you are one hormonal bastard you know that? If you are so desperate to find out I can suggest a lot more receptive people then Kinomi. I have a feeling she would rip off your balls and use them as a floor mat if you even suggested or hinted at the questions you just asked me in your message."  
  
Roshi realized whom he was talking to and what he was talking about.  
  
"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that you have been dating Miss model for a year and have yet to get a feel? You are either more pathetic or more honorable then I thought. To be honest I have spent more time then I would like to think of AVOIDING girls who practically fling their bodies at me. I would think you would have it even worse... Anyway grow up. I didn't mean to grab her there and you know it so drop the subject."  
  
Roshi sent the reply and climbed back into bed. "I didn't even realize what I had grabbed until after she had head butted me. All I knew was it definitely was not a well muscled shoulder."  
  
Turning his mind back on his problems with Mariah, Roshi thought on in silence.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo tried, but did not feel like sleeping. Saiya had 36-hour days and she was truthfully just not tired. She decided to explore the house a little bit. She saw that there was a private bathroom attached to the bedroom. She found the walk-in closet to be quite large and stuffed with a huge amount of clothing. However, the only things that seemed to have ever been worn were some overalls and a few red shirts. Walking back into the bedroom, she looked at the photos on the dresser. "Ha, this girl was a lot like me. Found something she liked to wear and stuck with it." She said as she looked at the various pictures of Pan with family and friends taken while she was wearing the same outfit.  
  
Walking out into the hallway, she opened the upstairs doors to see what she could find. The next-door down was a nursery with pink walls and a neat little crib. Even though Ichigo had never seen baby stuff of this nature, she knew what it was on sight. It left her with a somewhat hollow feeling. The nursery had a door that lead into the Master bedroom and then that lead back out to the hall. Walking to the end of the hall and down the stairs, Ichigo actually looked at the various pictures hung there. Pictures of from when Gohan was young. Pictures of Ubuu and Pan. Pictures various people's weddings. "Everyone is so happy here." Thinking of the grim faces that are always on her family's portraits Ichigo was somewhat jealous. A closet at the base of the stairs contained numerous portraits. Ichigo spent nearly an hour looking at the various portraits and in the back annuals. It seemed that Roshi's family used this room as a storage room for old family heirlooms they did not want in the main house. Her family had a similar room, but she had never looked spent time in it. Now looking at all the portraits from Goku on down to Roshi every generation, every member of the family documented, she realized how much she missed her people. More over how much she had taken her father for granted. "Son Roshi, I envy you. The Vegeta Rebels left Saiya looking for power." She said, as she looked at a picture of Gohan, Vegeta, and Goku all Super Saiyans. The back of the picture read: One day prior to Cell games. "You found that, but you found something my people seem to have forgotten to look for. You found peace."  
  
Looking over her pile of pictures, she sighed. "These people are the descendants of some of the worst villains in our history. Yet, looking at these pictures, and talking with Roshi, I cannot continue to think of them as the Rebels they were. Roshi's actions earlier tonight were actions I myself would easily have done were our situations reversed." She shook her head. "He claims that he is not a warrior, but I cannot deny he has a warrior's heart."  
  
An old grandfather clock rang out. It was now 3 in the morning. Realizing how late it was and how early she would have to wake the next morning Ichigo rushed upstairs to sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Slip had gotten back to the Capsule Corp shortly after midnight. She had decided to do as much possible research on the infamous tail as she could. So was busy looking at some nerve fibers in an electron microscope when someone had started continuously buzzing the main gate buzzer.  
  
Slip looked at her watch. "1:51 who would be here at this time of night?" She asked herself as she hurried to the video screen. Turning the security screen to the gate camera she almost fell over when she saw Roshi's mother banging on the buzzer button.  
  
Slip rushed to let her in. "Ah Mrs. Son! Ah, what can I do for you?" She asked.  
  
"Where is Roshi? Is he ok? What happened to my baby?!?! Where is he?" Roshi's mother screamed at Slip.  
  
Slip looked out the front door and saw the Son family hovercar smashed into a tree on the front lawn. Doing the math in her head she realized that Mrs. Son had been driving most of the day and was now to the point well past being rational.  
  
"AHHH he is fine Roshi is fine he is probably home now. Why don't you come in and have some tea? UM I can..."  
  
"He said he was going to fight a murdering beast woman! IF she hurt my baby I am going to mess her up something fierce!" Mrs. Son continued cutting Slip off.  
  
Slip knew that Roshi's mother knew absolutely nothing about martial arts, and any attempt by her to attack that Saiyan bitch would probably end up getting Roshi's mother killed. If that made Roshi come to his senses and get rid of the bitch... well no, that would probably not be a good way to get rid of the Saiyan girl.  
  
"CALM Down! He is ok. I have some experiments running that I cannot allow to spoil, but I can take you home as soon as I clean them up. Ok?" Slip said.  
  
"He is ok? You are sure? He didn't get hurt. Oh, he is always running off to do all that fighting, one of these days he is going to get hurt. Children these days! They have no respect for other people's feelings!" Mrs. Son said.  
  
Tell me about it! Slip thought to herself. If Roshi had half a brain he would realize that he is harboring a known criminal who should be at the very least locked up before she kills again!  
  
Slip got Roshi's mother some tea and hurried to shut down her experiments. A few minutes later they headed for the hanger. Slip choose the fastest VTOL jet in the Capsule Corp hanger and prepped it for flight. Slip would have Roshi's mother home by four. Then she would just sleep in Pan's old room, and fly back here in the morning.  
  
* * *  
  
"It is 3:15 in the morning and I still can't get to sleep." Roshi said aloud. "I should have put the girl in the guestroom down the hall. That way I would at least be able to tell what she was doing. She keeps moving around over there. Well at least she hasn't tried to sneak away."  
  
Roshi stared at the ceiling for a few minutes and then decided that he had had enough. He was going to go over and see what the girl was doing.  
  
Walking into the guesthouse, he found a bunch of the old family portraits pulled out and piled up at the foot of the stairs. He moved them so that they would not be stepped on and headed up the stairs. He looked at his watch. It was 3:31. The light was still on in her room. What could she be doing in there? He knocked lightly on the door.  
  
No answer.  
  
Trying not to make any noise, he slowly opened the door an inch and looked in just in time to see her walk out of the bathroom drying her huge tangle of hair.  
  
'SHIT!!!!' *THUNK!* *CLICK!!*  
  
He closed the door so fast it could have been heard by a deaf man.  
  
'DAMMIT!!!! Please don't break the door down! Oh Kami let her think it was the wind.' He thought as he flew down the stairs to hide.  
  
SLAM!!! "YOU PERVERT!!!! I KNOW YOU ARE DOWN THERE!!!" Two ki blasts slammed into the hardwood floor a few feet from Roshi splintering the wood.  
  
"NOOOO NOT THE HOUSE MY PARENTS WILL KILL ME!!!! PLEASE I DIDN'T MEAN TO SEE YOU LIKE THAT!!! PLEASE IF YOU WANT TO VENT YOU ANGER FINE BUT NOT HERE!!!!!!!!" Roshi screamed as he ran to the front door of the house.  
  
Standing at the top of the stairs arms crossed over her chest with the towel wrapped around her body rather then her hair, the girl glared at him through her scouter. Steam was boiling out of her wet hair as her ki rose with her rage.  
  
"PERVERT!!! IF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR ANATOMY INTACT YOU WILL NOT DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!"  
  
"I'm Sorry... I didn't mean to..." Roshi replied meekly. "Ah sleep well." He said as he ran out the door.  
  
'Idiot!!! Great way to win her trust there Roshi!' I can't believe my luck.  
  
Roshi got to his room and tried to calm his racing heart. 'I need to talk to Slip in the morning. The sooner Kinomi gets a ship and leaves the better. That girl is a powder keg just waiting to blow up. Man how am I going to explain this to mom?'  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............!!!!"  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo stood there at the top of the stairs for several minutes. She was very slowly calming down. She had wanted to kill him in a most unpleasant way. The sight of all of those family portraits stopped her. It would be a travesty to destroy such things. He would pay, just not tonight.  
  
'Ugh how humiliating. Not only did he nearly blow all of my clothes off fighting. Not only did he watch me on that beach for who knows how long earlier. Not only did he grope me during our fight, but also now he just happens to catch me totally nude! Either his timing is perfect, or absolutely terrible.' She thought to herself as she stood there looking at the doorway that he had just ran out of. Which, Ichigo had not decided yet. 'And to think I was beginning to actually respect him somewhat.'  
  
Using some calming techniques her father had once taught her she calmed down and started to actually relax. Returning to the bedroom, she paused in front of a three-paneled mirror. Looking at herself, she saw a slight bruise on her neck from where he had twisted her collar when he slammed her into the tree. 'No wonder I couldn't breathe. I cannot forget how strong he is.' A sudden chilling thought struck her. 'If he wanted to force himself on me, I doubt I would be able to stop him. Kicking him in the groin only made him worse during our fight. Our fight in which he stopped to apologize for grabbing me. Our fight where he broke my back, jaw and both arms.'  
  
Letting the towel drop to the ground She looked herself over. "With the exception of a barely visible burn mark and pock where my tail should be I don't have a single bruise, or scrape, or scar or mark from that fight. He healed me from what was certain death and did it quickly and better then a Regeneration tank could."  
  
Wrapping herself in the towel again, she went in search of clothing. She soon realized that the girl, Pan obviously was smaller framed then she was, but she eventually found stretchy sports bra and some panties that actually fit halfway decently and a silk nightgown.  
  
"I misjudged his motivations earlier because I expected him to behave like a rebel. Perhaps I have misjudged him more then I thought. I have taken personal offense to his actions as though they were planned slights to my personal honor. Yet, at the same time, he was so shocked at his own actions he opened himself up to attack. It is obvious that that his grabbing of my person was an accident. He then heals me, which is far more then any Saiyan I know of would do if the situations were reversed, but on top of that he covered me so that I would not be exposed. He then provided me with clothing as soon as he got into that domed house he conjured up." She crawled under the covers and hugged herself.  
  
"I cannot forgive him for removing my tail, that is an unforgivable offence, but I have judged his subsequent actions poorly I think. Had we been on Saiya, and had he been a warrior raised under the same traditions as I my earlier thoughts about his death would not have been wrong." 'Or would they have been? Men have always been more hesitant to attack me in my sparing matches then women. Could it be that it is not simply lack of respect as I thought, but fear over what they could loose should they anger me?'  
  
Cursing a Universe that thrived on double standards and inequities, Ichigo rolled over and tried to sleep. 'Change and uncertainty indeed father. Should I live through this mission, I will have certainly learned far more then your lessons have ever taught me.'  
  
A few moments later she was fast asleep in the bed. Lately her dreams had been nightmares. Tonight however, in a room next to a nursery complete with crib, her dream had a calm feeling of peace. She saw herself about ten years older. Holding a cute little baby girl. She couldn't recognize anything else in the dream. Just the baby with uncontrollable hair and a feeling of connection.  
  
The fading light of the moon fell on her smiling face.  
  
* * *  
  
Slip landed the plane and shut down the engines. Dense clouds had moved into the area in the past half-hour and it was almost pitch black outside. Slip was exhausted. Thankfully she was here.  
  
"Mrs. Son wake up! You're home!" Slip said as she started to get out of the plane.  
  
"Yaaaaawn oh ok. Thank you for bringing me back. I hope Roshi is ok." Mrs. Roshi said. Her eyes cleared with purpose and she was suddenly wide- awake. "I need to go talk to my son. Goodnight!"  
  
Slip watched as Son Beth ran up to the house. She could hear her yelling for Roshi. "Yawn, Ah I'm soo tired. I am glad I am not Roshi." She said as she walked towards the guesthouse.  
  
'Huh, I wonder why the front door is open?' Slip thought as she walked into the house. She saw the portraits stacked on the floor and smelled the burned wood. "Huh, they must be doing some remodeling." 'Oh well, off to bed for me.'  
  
Slip walked into Pan's room and without even turning on the lights or changing clothes more or less fell into bed. Right onto Ichigo.  
  
"What the hell?" Slip gasped.  
  
"Go away Momo, need more sleep." Ichigo mumbled before realizing where she was. "YOU!!!"  
  
"YOU" Slip screamed as she jumped out of the bed and stumbled falling onto the floor in a sprawl.  
  
"Lights!" Ichigo said. Seeing the sight of Slip sprawled on the floor was just too funny to stay mad about. She started laughing.  
  
Slip on the other was not finding it very funny. "What the hell are you doing in here? You bitch!"  
  
Upon being called a bitch Ichigo stopped laughing. Flying out of the bed she grabbed Slip's arm and yanked her to her feet. "I was told to sleep here. What are you doing here you barbarian? What got a bit of a consciousness and decided to return my tail? Or were you just coming for another sample?" She said while putting considerable pressure on Slips arm.  
  
"OOUUUUUWWWWWWCH that hurts!!! Let me go you murderer!" Slip howled.  
  
"On my world, the penalty for coming into my room uninvited is death. Your perverted cousin I can almost forgive but you on the otherhand are worthless to me." Ichigo said realizing suddenly that she was sounding a bit harsher then she had intended, even if she still spoke the truth.  
  
"That is enough Kinomi!" Roshi said from the doorway. "This is not your world, and if you ever want to go back to your world, you will need Slip's help."  
  
Ichigo shuddered. "Get her out of my sight. She interrupted a good dream. That alone is almost enough reason for me to kill her." She said as she threw Slip at Roshi."  
  
Roshi and Slip left quickly. Ichigo looked at the clock on the wall. "4:30 I need my sleep. Ah, first he catches me at the worst possible time, and then she climbs in bed with me. I really don't know if I can survive here. I can only adapt so quickly to change."  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi escorted Slip out of the house. "I need you to promise to be nicer to Kinomi. You are lucky to be alive!"  
  
Slip looked at him in disgust. "Well, if you had just killed the bitch, this wouldn't have been a problem! What is wrong with you Roshi? Can't you tell that she is dangerous? She killed five of my people and who knows how many others!"  
  
"Yeah, and Vegeta killed millions, but Goku forgave him!" Roshi protested.  
  
"OH PLEASE!!! Mr. ego! You are not Goku! This is not Goku's time. In Goku's time we could wish people back from the dead with the Dragon Balls! Don't even try to compare the current situation with Goku and Vegeta! It has nothing to do with them!"  
  
"Yes it does! Now, I will explain everything to you but right now we need to be quite because my mother does not know that Kinomi is here. Since I don't want set either of them off I would like to avoid a confrontation if at all possible so please don't mention her OK?" Roshi said  
  
"Fine, but you owe me mister!" Slip replied.  
  
"Ok, first if you want those five people back, just send a message to Namek and ask the Nemekians to wish for them back. Their Dragon is the real first one, so it does not have the problems ours did."  
  
"Oh, good point. Alright so we can get the people back, but why does this have anything to do with Goku or Vegeta?" Slip asked.  
  
"Well, um, promise me you won't laugh." Roshi said.  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"UGH women! You are all impossible. Ok fine!" Roshi said flabbergasted. "At the end of our fight, both of us had been knocked unconscious. While I was unconscious I had this dream. Anyway, in my dream, I saw and talked to Goku."  
  
"So you had a concussion and your mind focused on your greatest hero. Proves nothing."  
  
"Exactly what I thought until later. See Goku told me to swallow and that caused me to eat the senzu bean that I had put into my mouth as I passed out. I found the girl mangled to the point were she shouldn't have been alive. I gave her the senzu because it would not have been right to just execute her without knowing why she did what she did."  
  
"Oh so this is where you compare yourself to Goku and make it all better RIGHT?" Slip remarked.  
  
"No, this is where I took her into the dome house and gave her something to wear. She put on my old orange dogi and came out telling me that it was the same outfit as the dream guy."  
  
"Huh?" Slip said.  
  
"Exactly! I questioned her and she gave me an exact description of Goku! She even described him going Super Saiyan! Now, Gohan told everyone that he heard Goku talk to him after he died in the Cell games. I don't know how or why but Goku talked to both of us. There is something important going on. Until I figure out what that something is, I have to trust her and hope that she opens up and gives me something to go on. Besides you heard her reason for coming here! Her people are being killed. This I believe. She is being completely honest about that. Put yourself in her shoes. You if you had no options left, you would do the same things she has done."  
  
"Well I don't like her. And I don't think I would ever act the way she is acting. She acts like she can order us around like puppets. She doesn't have the right." Slip said.  
  
"Well, if you want to argue rights, what gives you the right to do any research on her tail without her permission? You yourself have nothing on her for ethics. I believe that she thought she would be saving lives by searching for us. What can we possibly gain by your research on her tail?" Roshi demanded.  
  
"Not you too! Boxers and Tee said the same thing! Understanding, Science! I already explained this stuff to you last week!"  
  
"Don't lie Slip, that kind of research can be done with a drop of blood or a hair or a few skin cells. What you are doing is wrong. Admit it."  
  
"Oh alright! I'll give it back! Not that it will do her any good!" Slip said.  
  
"You're right, but at the same time it might put her at a little bit of peace so she will be easier to work with." Roshi said.  
  
"Fine! Fine! You won, now can we go inside it is cold out here?"  
  
Roshi chuckled and lead her inside.  
  
"What was all the screaming I heard?" Roshi's mother asked as soon as they walked in.  
  
Roshi knew he was standing there like a deer in the headlights. "Ah well..."  
  
"Oh it was nothing Mrs. Son Roshi and I were just fighting about something and he said that if I came over here we could discuss it over some food." Slip said. She gave him a look that just broadcast the "You owe me big" look.  
  
"Ah yeah." He finished.  
  
"I thought is sounded like two girls?" She said while giving Roshi that knowing look all parents think will cause their children to spill the beans.  
  
"ACK AH, no I just had something caught in my throat!" Roshi said while trying to sound as squeakily feminine as he could.  
  
"Ok, well right now you and Slip are going to come to the kitchen and tell me everything that happened in your fight with that terrible horrible beast girl from space that you fought today." Mrs. Son said as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
Roshi gave Slip a knowing look. "Well, hope you weren't planning on sleeping tonight."  
  
"You better just hope that I don't spill the beans on you." She whispered to him as she turned to walk into the kitchen.  
  
Roshi and Slip entered the kitchen. The kitchen was for all intents and purposes the largest room in the Son mansion. Most families as well off as they were would have had a separate dinning room and kitchen. This was not true of the Sons. Saiyans tended to want the food as close to the table as possible. The shear size of the pots, pans, refrigerator and other appliances would have shocked most people. Indeed, according to Roshi's father, it had taken his mother a very long time to get used to the idea of the family eating as much as it did.  
  
Mrs. Son was no cook and did not even pretend as though she had any inkling to learn how to. She had originally wanted to hire a maid and several chefs. She had not expected to have to do menial chores after marrying into one of the richest and most famous families in the world.  
  
So a compromise had been struck, Goshu had become the family cook. Roshi was left fending for himself in his father's absence. Also, several maids were hired to come and do occasional cleanings. Roshi found if rather funny when his father picked on his mother for becoming an average housewife.  
  
Son Beth sat down at the large table and stared at her son. "Alright, you are going to sit down and tell me exactly where you have been and what is going on, or so help me!"  
  
Roshi gave Slip a glance and took a deep breath. "Ok, I am not going to lye to you. This Saiyan girl named Kinomi was searching for other Saiyans and she ended up killing a bunch of people while looking for us. She landed here on Earth this afternoon and well to make a long story short, I got into a little disagreement with her and we ended up fighting and we almost killed each other. Anyway, I brought her home with me and she is over in the guesthouse and that is why you heard Slip fighting with another girl cause well, she was. Anyway, Kinomi won't tell me much about her, but I am going to try to figure out more about her to see if she is trustworthy, so I am going to be pretending to teach her how to fight better in the morning. Any questions?" Roshi said in one breath as fast as he could talk.  
  
"You... what? Girl? Almost died... teach to fight better..." Beth stammered before slumping back in her chair and almost falling on the floor.  
  
Roshi quickly grabbed his passed out mother and turned to Slip.  
  
Slip was staring at him mouth-hanging open.  
  
"You can pick your chin off the floor. I think she will be out for a good couple of hours. I can leave her a note in the morning, and hopefully she will think the whole thing was a dream or something."  
  
"WHAT!?!?! YOU? Are going to lie to your mother?!?!!" Slip looked at him incredulously.  
  
"No, I just told her the truth. I just won't tell her any more unless she asks. Trust me, she hates to make a fool of herself. Her own pride will keep her from asking the questions in more depth. Now if you don't mind I need to get some sleep. You can stay in the second guest room across the hall from my room." Roshi yawned. "Good night." He said as he carried his mother to the master bedroom.  
  
Slip stood there in the kitchen for several minutes before she could accept that she had seen what she just saw. "So, mister goodie goodie isn't so honest after all." She said as she climbed the stairs to the guestroom.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo stared at the ceiling of the room. "I hate this!" She finally said before climbing out of bed. "Too much adrenaline to sleep at the moment."  
  
She looked around the room once more. "I feel very out of place in this room." For a few moments her mind played over her earlier thoughts and she worried that she may be loosing her edge. Becoming too soft was one of the worst things a warrior could do. If they could no longer detach themselves from the situation, they would begin to question their actions.  
  
'Who am I kidding, as my father has said many a time, I am not a warrior and I must question my actions. Which is exactly what I have been doing my entire life. This is no different. Just more extreme.'  
  
Deciding that she needed to stretch a bit, Ichigo walked out into the hallway to explore the house in more detail. She decided to explore the master bedroom. It was large and quite finely furnished. A large picture of a man and woman with a spunky looking little girl hung above a fireplace. Nearby were a lounge chair and a bookcase. A small silver label drew her attention.  
  
"The journals of Son Gohan." She read aloud. "Who keeps their journals out in the open where anyone could read them?"  
  
A particularly ragged looking book seemed to call to her. Ichigo grabbed it and it opened up to a page in the middle.  
  
Ichigo started reading. "May 26, 767: It is my fault. I should have listened. I let my pride get in the way. I did it. I made it to the next level. I had so much power, I could do anything. Anything but save him. I saved the entire Earth. I saved everyone but my father. I feel so empty. I can't believe he is gone. He was always there for me. He was there for everyone. He was just there when we needed him. Then today, when he needed me. When everyone needed me. I couldn't shoulder the burden. I know you don't blame me dad. I know I was forgiven even before you disappeared with Cell. But why do I feel so empty knowing this?"  
  
Ichigo was surprised to find herself weeping. She empathized deeply with this Gohan person, for she was thinking many of the same things about her own mission.  
  
Ichigo put the book back and grabbed another on that was somewhat beat up. 'Hmmmm, he had a journal for every year of his life. Few Saiyans would even think to allow their personal thoughts to touch paper like this. Such dedication is to be admired, but I wonder why they are all here on display?' She thought to herself as she opened it up.  
  
"June 15, 779; This has been one of the best most happiest most frustrating most challenging most inspiring most tiring days of my life. Oh, what a day. My daughter who Videl and I have decided to name Pan was born today. I don't know who is more excited, myself, or my father."  
  
'Father?!?! I thought he was dead? Something is really really strange here. Ichigo looked at the earlier journal.' "Well, it is the same handwriting. I will just have to ask Roshi about it." She said to herself before continuing to read.  
  
"He can be such a child at times. Anyway, back to my earlier thoughts. Thanks to Videl's father, Pan's Birth was a media circus. I practically had to kill some of the reporters to keep them out of the delivery room. Thankfully, Bulma had found a way to remove Pan's tail before she was born. I can only imagine the headlines. 'Granddaughter of Mr. Satan World's Savior born with Tail!' It would be a nightmare. Fame is a curse. We couldn't have just had the baby born in the CC's medical lab. NO, we had to have her be born at the Satan City Memorial Hospital so that Mr. Satan could have his media. I have to love the guy. He tries so hard to stay famous. I just wish I didn't have to live in the spotlight. My conscience is reminding me that I would be directly in the spotlight if he had not claimed to have beaten Cell. So I guess I owe him that. Anyway, my mind seems to be wandering. Even with the cameras and all the commotion, when the nurse put Pan in Videl's arms today, the world was perfect.  
  
Videl is sleeping now. She is so beautiful. Even when she sleeps, she has that happy peaceful smile on her face. Pan on the otherhand, is most notably not sleeping. I can hear her crying now. I would go to her, but she is in the newborn room thing and the nurses won't let me enter it. Even after she knocked three of them out and broke two of the cribs. I get the feeling Pan is going to be just about all the spunk Videl and I will be able to handle. Anyway, I need to stop writing now and go see if I can calm Pan down. It is not like the nurses will be able to stop me, although, I am sure they will try." Ichigo read.  
  
"Ah, that is so... sweet." She said finally finding the right word and then realizing the moment she said it how Un-Saiyan it sounded. "I bet Roshi keeps a Journal as well. I think I am going to have to steal it and see what he is keeping from me." She said to herself while pondering whether or not to keep reading. After stifling a yawn, Ichigo decided to go back to bed. It would most likely be a busy day tomorrow.  
  
* * *  
  
Well there be 17. Thank you for reading. I would be greatly appreciative if you would take the time to review.  
  
(P.s.) This is a long chapter again for all of you people who were begging for a longer one. ;)  
  
Once again, If you review and leave your email, I will add you to my mail list and you will be informed when the next chapter is out and so on.  
  
Thanks all! 


	18. Frazzled Nerves and Minor Annoyances

Chapter 18. Frazzled nerves and minor annoyances Monday, June 16 6:50 AM  
  
Ichigo reached over to shut off the alarm on the bedside table. It had taken about 20 minutes the previous night to figure out how to set the stupid thing. Given that she normally used a 36 hr clock rather then what she had figured out to be a 24 hr clock, she had decided that getting it to work without breaking the darn thing had been an accomplishment. She had given herself 10 minutes to get dressed and ready for whatever Roshi had prepared for her. She wearily climbed out of bed, manually turned the light on and stretched a bit. "I am soo tired." She said to herself while walking to the dresser.  
  
Ichigo had found, while looking around last night, that most of the workout clothing folded in the dresser would fit her. She had determined from the pictures that it looked like this Pan girl had liked to wear very large oversized clothing. Which was good for Ichigo, since she had determined that she was taller and a bit more muscular then Pan had been. Since she only had one bodysuit left and did not want to damage her armor in training, she had decided to put wear one of the light blue and orange outfits like Roshi's, over a black skinsuit. The skinsuit while living her arms and legs below the knees unprotected, seemed to be made of a material very much like her own bodysuit. It was a bit to tight over her chest, waist and hips, but it was better then going nude. Ichigo was, however, surprised at the lightness of the fabric the blue... gi? was made of. Assuming that it was made of the same stuff as the one Roshi wore last night, Ichigo knew it was quite strong. Yet without the weight of the armor, she still felt strangely naked and unprotected as she put her scouter on and headed out the door.  
  
Determined to make the best of her situation she was prepared to tell Roshi who she really was. With that and whatever his training was going to be in mind, she looked around the estate.  
  
The scouter could not detect anyone out in the yard so Ichigo walked over to the main house. 'Where the heck is that jerk. He told me to be ready for training at 7. It is already well past that.' Ichigo thought to herself as she opened the front door of the main house.  
  
Her scouter had detected three people in the house, but much to Ichigo's chagrin there was no indication which one of them was Roshi. Since all of them were upstairs, she floated up to the second floor landing and opened the first door she came to.  
  
A large spotlessly clean room greeted her. Walking past a private bath and a large computer consul, she found the actual bedroom. Sleeping on the bed was Roshi. Ichigo balled her fists. "Hey wake up! You said you would train me today." She said to him.  
  
"Naaww, need more sleep. Leamme alone, no school today. It summer." He mumbled as he rolled over to face away from her.  
  
Ichigo couldn't believe it. No one had ever ignored her in her life. The fact that he was almost oblivious to her was insulting. She looked around his room for something big to break over his head.  
  
After a bit of snooping around his room, she walked back over to his bed. His back was to her. Her scouter said he had a power level of .5! Ichigo glared at him for a few moments. Roshi made several snoring noises. 'ARRGH this is intolerable!'  
  
She kicked him in the back, right over his left kidney. Or rather that was what she had tried to do. Faster then she had ever seen anyone move, he had rolled over in bed to face her and grabbed her foot stopping her kick dead. His other hand swung around and once again time slowed down. Ichigo could only watch in shock as his right arm swung down to smash into her kneecap. Roshi stopped the swing barely tapping her knee. Her scouter never even blinked.  
  
Still holding her foot, he looked at his watch. "Wow, a minute and thirty- four seconds. That is about a minute and thirty-three seconds longer then I thought it would take you to try to attack me."  
  
Ichigo yanked her foot out of his hand and glared at him as he swung himself out of bed.  
  
A million questions were raging through her mind, but she found herself strangely speechless.  
  
Roshi stretched out and then looked up at her. "As my father used to say, anger is a tool and a weapon. You can use it to your advantage, or you can let it rule you. I expected you to lash out immediately after I rolled over. You didn't, which is good. BUT, you let yourself forget everything you should have learned yesterday. You rely on that scouter way way too much, and it put you at a disadvantage."  
  
Realizing that she had been wrong the night before and being prepaired to come clean were on thing. Being treated in such a manner by someone she still saw as an underling was another all together. Hearing him chastise her like that caused her mentioned anger to skyrocket. "Who are you to talk? From what you told me last night, you only beat me last night because you lost control of your anger." She spat at him.  
  
Roshi seemed not the slightest bit unnerved by her comment. This did not make her any happier. Ichigo had the suspicion that this would be a very long day.  
  
"Last night I lost control of my rage. Rage is a combination of anger, fear, pain and a few other emotions thrown in like hate. The difference may not seem like much but it is significant. Until you can control your anger, you will not be able to have the peace of mind necessary to learn what I have to teach you."  
  
"Oh and just how do I go about controlling my anger? Since you seem to have all the answers." She demanded.  
  
"First you need to go back to bed. Both of us need more rest before training will do either of us any good." He said as he laid back down on his bed.  
  
"What!?! You make me wake up for this and then send me back to bed like a child! How is sleep going to help anything?"  
  
Roshi pulled the covers over his head and then talked through them. "First, it gets you away from me. I am very tired and even though we both ate a senzu I know that I need more rest before I actually get up for the day. Oh, and don't you claim to be fine, your reflexes were ten times faster yesterday. Now if you don't mind. I am going to go back to sleep."  
  
Ichigo stood there blinking. 'The insolence! Who the heck did he think he was?!' She pulled back her arm to smack him in the head.  
  
"I wouldn't if I were you" Roshi said from beneath his covers.  
  
"AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH YOU ARE IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!" She screamed at him.  
  
Roshi pulled his quilt off of his head and looked at her like she was some sort of thing to be avoided at all costs. "There, now you have done it. You woke up my mother. I was hoping to avoid this."  
  
Roshi got out of bed and walked to his private bathroom. "Just don't move I will be right back."  
  
A few moments later he walked out of the bath wearing his normal navy and orange outfit. He glared at her like a superior officer looks at a recruit who just failed some test. "Now, if you do as I say, life will be much easier for the both of us. No matter what I or anyone else says, you are NOT to react and you are to be as civil as you can be. Oh, and take that thing off your face." He said as he pointed at her scouter. He then turned and walked out into the hallway.  
  
Not knowing anything else to do, Ichigo stuffed her scouter onto one of the tables near Roshi's bed and followed him. A red-haired woman in disheveled clothing was rubbing her eyes as she walked through the double doors at the end of the hall.  
  
"Roshi I had the strangest dream and then I heard screaming, what is..." The woman stopped dead as she caught sight of Ichigo. "Who is that? What is going on?" She asked looking quite confused.  
  
"Mom, ah this is..." Roshi began.  
  
Suddenly, the blue-haired idiot ran out of a different room and almost slammed into the woman. "What is all the screaming about? I just got to sleep." Slip said as she looked around. "Oh, YOU! I should have known." She said as she caught sight of Ichigo.  
  
"What? Slip dear what are you doing here? Do you know this girl? What is she doing with my Roshi?" The woman Roshi had just identified as his mother said.  
  
"Mother if you would..." Roshi started again.  
  
"No! I am not going to stand here and have you make up some story. You and your father seem to think that I am incapable of understanding things, so you never tell me the whole truth. Now Slip, who is this girl!" The woman said cutting Roshi off.  
  
Slip looked at Roshi quickly and then started talking. "Ah, well Mrs. Son, I really think you should have Roshi explain..."  
  
Roshi's mother glowered at her and Slip changed her story. "... er well ok. Um... this is um... well she is a Saiyan who um... came here looking for other ah Saiyans. Right Roshi?" Slip finished.  
  
Ichigo was amazed. She had expected Slip to go ballistic and make her out to be the worst threat this planet had ever seen. Ichigo glanced at Roshi. From the look on his face she could tell he was surprised as well.  
  
"Ah yeah." He stammered  
  
The red-haired woman walked up to Ichigo and poked her in the center of her chest. "So you're and alien? What are you doing here on Earth?" A sudden look of shock appeared on her face. "Wait! Roshi said some terrible murderer was coming from space! You're that girl! It wasn't a dream. You get away from me!" She said while backing away.  
  
It had taken every bit of Ichigo's self control not to snap the woman's finger off for poking her. But that tirade was just about all she could take. She was about to launch herself at the stupid woman when Roshi stepped between her and his mother.  
  
"Mother, Slip, would you two just calm down and come downstairs so we can discuss this."  
  
"Oh no! I have had enough of this. You are a seventeen-year-old boy who still does not know his place! I knew you were going to be bringing a girl home some day, but I would have thought you would have had some sense! You are GROUNDED! Get to your room NOW! Your father is not home so you can't hide behind him this time! AND you you! space hussy you get away from my son or by Heaven and Earth you will be sorry!" She said shaking her finger at Ichigo.  
  
If Roshi hadn't been blocking her, Ichigo was quite certain that there would be another murder on her hands. Not because she wanted to kill the woman, but because she was quite certain that had she hit the woman for speaking to her in such a manner, the woman would have most likely died. It took a matter of moments for her to figure out the consequences of such an action. Roshi would have killed her. She could tell that even with his mother's irrational behavior that he loved his mother.  
  
Ichigo realized that while his mother was off of her rocker, she needed to learn whatever Roshi could or would teach her. So, she turned around and walked calmly down the stairs and out of the house.  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi's hopes fell faster then a falling stone as he heard his mother's tirade. He braced himself to stop the girl he knew as Kinomi from attacking. The attack never came. She just turned around and walked out of his house. He couldn't believe it. This was not something he had expected at all. Maybe she would be able to control her temper and learn. Not that he would be teaching her much today.  
  
"Fine mother, I am sorry. May I please talk to Slip for a little bit?" He asked.  
  
"Fine, but I never want to see that girl again!" Son Beth said before going back into her bedroom.  
  
Slip was still staring down the hall where the girl had gone. "What just happened? Why didn't she try to kill us? Roshi?" She looked at him in utter confusion.  
  
Roshi rolled his eyes and turned around. "Come here Slip, we need to talk." He said as he walked into his room.  
  
Slip followed him in and sat down on one of his chairs.  
  
"Don't worry, my mother is soft. Once she calms down I am sure I will be able to talk some sense into her. In the meantime however, I am going to go back to bed. There is nothing else I can do. If I sneak out and get caught my mother will kill me. I need you to give this to Kinomi." He said as he picked the girl's scouter up off his table. "These things have transmitters in them. If you can figure out what channel it transmits please tell me. I can listen in here with my computer. If I can't be watching her I can at least be listening to what she does."  
  
"You don't trust her do you?" Slip exclaimed.  
  
"No, I don't, not really at least. I believe that she only killed those people because she thought she had to. I honestly think that she does not want to hurt anyone. Don't ask why, I just know. But that doesn't mean that she won't go break a lot of things. Besides, she still hasn't opened up and told me anything about her."  
  
"Ah, Roshi, I hate to mention it, but she doesn't exactly like me. Are you sure she will even let me talk to her?" Slip asked.  
  
Roshi could tell that Slip was frightened at the prospects of approaching Kinomi. "If you don't do anything to aggravate her I don't think she will do anything to you." Roshi said.  
  
Slip didn't look too sure. "Ah you have a frequency analyzer here?" She asked as she fiddled with one of the dials on the scouter.  
  
"Sure, let me just go to my lab and get it for you." Roshi said with just a bit of sarcasm. "If I knew what that was I might have been able to figure out how to tap into it myself."  
  
Slip looked up at him. "Well sorry, some of us didn't get a good nights sleep last night. Something about a certain girl attacking the planet and trying to kill people. But obviously you have a short term memory and forgot."  
  
Roshi rolled his eyes. "Hey, she made a mistake in thinking that the Saiyans living here were still evil. We made the mistake of thinking that she wanted to kill us. None of us is perfect. Get off your high horse and give her a chance to prove herself. If she proves to be a threat, we have more then enough people to help get rid of her."  
  
"ARRGGGHHH, Fine! What do you want me to tell her?" Slip said as she stopped fiddling with the scouter.  
  
"Tell her that you need to set her scouter so that we can talk to each other through it. I will talk her through some of the routines."  
  
"Ok, shouldn't be a problem." Slip said as she got up to leave.  
  
"Oh, one more thing." Roshi said quickly. "I need you to take her back to Capsule Corp. Then you can give her back her tail and give her someplace to sleep. She needs at least five more hours of sleep before I will even start training her."  
  
"NO way in hell! That girl is not getting anywhere near the Capsule Corp!" Slip yelled.  
  
"Yes she is! She will need to use the gravity room. Not to mention several other training facilities you have there."  
  
"Why can't you use the ones you have here? Your dad is the Turtle master! You have far better facilities right here!"  
  
"All of which you can be assured my mother will be watching like a hawk. Don't argue with me. IF you don't feel safe, get Boxers and Tee to help you."  
  
"No offense to them, but the Two of them couldn't protect me from a flea let alone that GIRL!" Slip screamed.  
  
"Slip, Trust me. I know what I am doing." Roshi replied.  
  
"Fine, Fine I'll do it. But to return what you said last night if she kills me, I WILL come back and haunt you, and don't claim it was a mistake!" Slip said as she walked out the door.  
  
* * *  
  
Hey all.. Sorry this is taking so long.. Once again, thanks for reading. Please keep reviewing.  
  
The Smooster ****************************************************************************  
  
p.s. Sorry about this chapter being so short. This is hopefully the last of the short chapters. 


	19. Clothes and stuff

Chapter 19 Clothes and stuff.  
  
Monday, June 16 7:40 AM  
  
Slip walked slowly out of the house. She didn't want to have anything to do with Roshi's plan. But she also realized that his plan was probably the best for all of them. Even IF it put her into danger by forcing her to talk to and spend time with that Saiyan bitch.  
  
Slip walked out into the yard. "Now where is she?" She asked herself. She put the scouter on. Even though she couldn't read what it said, it indicated that the girl was close and to the south. Slip started walking down the path that lead to Son Beth's flower gardens. While Slip didn't really think much of Roshi's mother, she had to admit that her gardens (Beth actually did the gardening herself!!!) were some of the most impressive she had ever seen.  
  
After several minutes of looking around, Slip spotted the Saiyan girl sitting on a patch of grass in the middle of one of the rose gardens. She was re-braiding her hair and had braided several of Beth's prized blue roses into her hair. Slip found this to be somewhat funny. For some reason, she had not thought the Saiyan girl as the type to do something so very 'feminine.'  
  
"You realize that if Roshi's mother caught you picking her roses, she would probably find a way to kill you?" She said as she walked into the girl's view.  
  
For her part, the girl had very fast reflexes. Slip had barely started her comment and the Saiyan was already in a defensive stance.  
  
"Oh it is just you," She said. "What do you want?"  
  
The way the girl had jumped up and looked like she was prepared to strike had shocked Slip. She jumped back, and slipped on the wet grass and of course, fallen on her butt.  
  
The girl started laughing at her. "I thought you were supposedly smart. The dew hasn't burned off the grass yet. I haven't seen anyone wipe out like that in a long time. You have the coordination of a one year-old, you know." She said.  
  
Slip got up and brushed herself off. "I am glad you find it funny, but if Roshi's mom finds out you picked some of her prized blue roses she will go nuts."  
  
The girl looked somewhat surprised and then looked back at the roses. "We do not have flowers like this were I am from. There are gardens that have flowers only the royal family can touch, but I have never seen a flower so lovely. I could not resist picking several of them." She said while straightening out her gi.  
  
Had Slip been listening to what Ichigo had been saying she may have learned something, but Slip had been ignoring the words as she looked at the gi the girl was wearing.  
  
"Where did you get that?" She asked.  
  
"Get what?" The girl asked.  
  
"That gi, it is obviously not yours, it doesn't fit you." Slip replied.  
  
Ichigo looked herself over and then replied. "I thought it fit me fairly well, I got it from the guest house. Why? Is there a problem with me wearing this as well?" She stated sarcastically.  
  
"Well, it must have been Pan's. She would have been quite a bit shorter then you. It is supposed to go all the way down to your ankles, not stop mid calf. Anyway, I don't care, but there are some people that would get upset if you damaged anything from that house. Some people in my family seem to think of the place as some sort of museum."  
  
"Oh, and here I thought you just kept that house arranged just like it would have been several hundred years ago because you had nothing better to do. Roshi has already gone over the sentimentality issue with me." Ichigo replied nonchalantly.  
  
"Well, Roshi was always more of a family historian then me, but from what I know, Pan outlived her husband, and all of her children. As an old woman, she came back to live in that house and restored it to how it was when she was a child. Since the new house had been built by then, everyone sorta just left it alone after she died." Slip told her.  
  
"Um, I already know this, Roshi said all that last night. Now I don't think you came to find me in an attempt to bore me half to death with your family's history, so why are you bothering me? If you don't have a good reason go away before I do something we will both regret." Ichigo said while stretching out a bit.  
  
"Regret? As if you have any regrets. That would require a conscience." Slip said snidely.  
  
Ichigo glared up at her. "You cannot believe that that quip hurts. Coming from a barbaric scientist who has been doing immoral unethical debased research on my tail and who knows what else. I would say that you would need to have a conscience before you can judge others." She returned with contempt.  
  
"My research is not immoral, unethical, OR debased! It has never hurt anyone! And by Kami it has never killed anyone either. You can't say that about yourself!" Slip yelled back at her.  
  
Ichigo straightened out. "No, I cannot. However, for me lives were and are at stake. What you have done will gain people little or nothing. Don't judge me when you have nothing to base your judgment on."  
  
"You're not even sorry you killed them! You excuse it because it was a mistake and you were wrong, but you are not even sorry you did it!" Slip said flabbergasted.  
  
Ichigo took five rapid steps and grabbed Slip's shoulders. "Actually, I AM sorry I made that mistake. To answer your original quip, I have many many regrets. If I were not sorry about killing those innocent people, your remarks and slighting of my honor would be cause enough to kill you where you stand. But I was wrong, so I deserve some of your contempt. Some of your contempt does not mean I will continue to let you verbally abuse me. You have not shown any remorse for what you have done and had your cousin actually killed me you would probably be still dissecting me like a lab specimen, is that not what you called me last night? Now unless you want me to actually take offense to your comments, I think we can leave this conversation where it is and count it as a moral victory to me. Now, why did you come into this garden? It wasn't to bother me or harass me or cause me problems. You appear to be smarter then that. Which means Roshi sent you. So, what is going on now?" Ichigo said letting her threatening tone soften to a more amicable tone of voice.  
  
"Ah... Ah... Ah... actually, you are right. See, Roshi wants me to fix your scouter so that he can use it to talk to you, then he can at least tell you what he wants to tell you while you train at Capsule Corp." Slip said after getting her shaking body back under control.  
  
"What is the Capsule Corp?"  
  
"Oh, ah well, ah it is my mom and dad's business. Well actually the whole family, even Roshi owns part of it, but my parents run it. We make just about everything there." Slip said.  
  
"Ah so what good will going there do me?" The girl asked.  
  
"Look, Kinomi, your name is Kinomi right?" Slip said.  
  
While Ichigo had been determined to stop using the name Kinomi, admitting to oneself that you made a mistake is one thing. Admitting it to another and that you had lied, is another. Ichigo couldn't bring herself to admit she had lied, and she wasn't about to admit it to Slip. Since she really didn't like Slip much, she saw no reason to tell her otherwise.  
  
"Yes, why?" She said.  
  
"I just wanted to know what to call you, sheeesh, you get rather testy over nothing. Anyway, there are facilities that you can use at the CC."  
  
"Fine" Ichigo, said sullenly.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo followed Slip out of the gardens and over to the landing pad.  
  
"Where are we going?" She asked Slip.  
  
"To the landing pad so that I can get my plane and fly home." Slip said as if that should have been obvious.  
  
"I see the pad, but I don't see a plane." Ichigo said.  
  
"Duh, I have it in my capsule." Slip said back while waving a little blue thing that looked like a bottle.  
  
"What are you talking about? That thing can't possibly be an aircraft.!" Ichigo stated rather flabergastedly.  
  
"Yes it is. See." Slip said as she threw the capsule into the air.  
  
POP!!  
  
There standing in the middle of the landing pad was Slip's jet.  
  
"How in the heck did you do that? I have never seen anything like that before in my life!" Ichigo said awed.  
  
"Yes you have. Were did you think that house you and Roshi used right after your fight came from?"  
  
"I... I don't know, I wasn't paying attention. It was just there." Ichigo admitted  
  
"Well, these are called capsules. They are what we make at Capsule Corp." Slip said as she showed Ichigo several more capsules.  
  
"So you can put just about anything into one of these capsules?" Ichigo said while thinking about how useful that would be.  
  
"Almost everything can be," Slip said as she climbed up into the plane. "Just get in the plane so we can get this over with. I don't have all day to explain every technical thing in the world to you."  
  
Ichigo smiled inwardly. 'I may get used to her. Momo always said I needed someone other then her that would talk back to me. Even if this Slip person is a moron, she may have her uses.'  
  
Slip started the jets up and then revved them a few times to shake Ichigo out of her thoughts. Ichigo jumped into the plane and sat down in the co- pilot's seat.  
  
"So how long will it take to get to this Capsule Corp?"  
  
"Well, if I wanted to break every regulation in the book, we could be there in about an hour. But since I don't want to push it this morning, we will be there in about 2 and half hours." Slip replied as she eased the plane into the air.  
  
"Good, I am going to go sleep in the back." Ichigo said as she got out of the chair.  
  
"That is so unfair!" Slip called back as Ichigo closed the door between the cockpit and the rest of the aircraft. "Fine, have it your way. I have a computer system with every song ever made at my disposal." She said silently to herself. She shook her head and then reached over and locked the cockpit door. 'You can have your little moral victory bitch. I'll pay you back every time.' She then set the computer to play the most horrendously terrible German opera. (AN: Germans don't do opera... ;) ) She then smiled at the fact that this plane was "Vegeta" proof, and cranked it only in the back.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo had just sat down on the couch in the back of the plane when the worst sounding noise-music she had ever heard in her life started blasting into her ears.  
  
"What the heck is this? She can't possibly like this noise." She said to herself as she got up and ran for the door. It was locked. The door was also protected by some sort of energy field. Ichigo was fairly certain she could beat it down, but she was not going to take the chance of having something backfire on her. "HEY OPEN THIS DOOR YOU ARE REALLY STARTING TO MAKE ME MAD!" Ichigo screamed at the door for all she was worth.  
  
The noise cut out and she heard Slip talking over the intercom. "What can't sleep? Here on Air Bitch Travels we do everything in our powers to make your flight enjoyable for us, not you. Is there anything you may want before I turn the music back on?"  
  
"Yes, I want to tell you that if you think this is some sort of game you will learn soon that I am a very poor loser." Ichigo smiled to herself. "Oh, and to tell you that if you turn that noise back on I will not stop until you have died a very very slow and painful death."  
  
"Are you threatening me? Are you threatening me?" Slip said in a really corny accent.  
  
Ichigo stared at the door. "She's nuts, that has to be the answer."  
  
"HEY, that isn't what you are supposed to say! You are supposed to say some thing like, You'd better believe it." Slip said as she started laughing.  
  
"Yeah well, if you turn that noise back on I will take that threat and actually do it." Ichigo said back as she sat back down on the couch.  
  
"Ha, sorry but you are rather fun to make mad. It is way too easy. Anyway, why should you get to sleep while I have to fly this plane?" Slip said back.  
  
Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Simple, you know how to fly it, and you are the one who wanted to fly it back with me in it rather then letting me fly there myself. So if you won't let me fly, I might as well really save my energy by sleeping. Simple logic if you ask me. Oh, and incase you have not figured it out, the universe is anything but fair. If it were, I would be home and happy. Not here and miserable."  
  
Slip flipped the music back on. "There, NOW you're miserable!" She said as she laughed over the intercom for a minute or two before turning the music off again.  
  
* * *  
  
Slip knew that she was getting dangerously close to setting the Saiyan girl off, but she didn't really care. If Roshi was going to force her to put up with the bitch, she was at least going to have some fun and make it as miserable for her as it was for herself.  
  
The closer to Capsule Corp. they got, the more nervous Slip became. She was worried that Kinomi would do something rash and end up blowing something up. Also, she did not really want to be there when the girl saw her tail. Slip had done a rather extensive dissection of it. Slip shuddered realizing just how bad she felt about that now that she had actually met and talked with the girl a bit. The girl's comments had hit home and stuck. She was definitely regretting her actions now. Not that she liked her, but now she actually was a person, not just some lab experiment. One doesn't experiment on people; it just wasn't morally or ethically allowable.  
  
That of coarse didn't change the fact that she had done just that. And now she was going to have to face the consequences. "This is going to be a very long day." She said to herself.  
  
Slip suddenly got a bright idea. Turning on her vid-phone, she called up both Boxers and Tee for a conference call. "Rise and shine sleepy heads!" She said cheerfully as soon as they picked up the phone.  
  
"Roshi already called us Slip, he said we had to be at Capsule Corp by 9 or he would kill us the next time he saw us." Tee said groggily. Slip could see that he looked like he had just gotten out of the shower.  
  
"Yeah Slip, what's up?" Boxers said. "Why does Roshi want us at Capsule Corp?"  
  
"Well, to make a long story short, Roshi's mother grounded him. I am transporting our visitor to the Capsule Corp, and you two get to keep her from killing us."  
  
"What? Are you mad? I'm not getting anywhere near her!" Tee said.  
  
"What, you afraid that she might hurt your purty little face?" Boxers said mockingly.  
  
"No, it is just that you saw that fight last night! Neither one of us can stop her if she gets mad! Slip what are you thinking taking her to Capsule Corp without Roshi? When she gets her tail back, she is going to tear us up like tin foil!" Tee exasperated.  
  
"Which is exactly why you guys have to be there, so super bitch doesn't go ballistic!" Slip said back.  
  
"Um I hate to be a voice of reason here, but Tee is right. If she goes off, there is little or nothing either of us could do to stop her." Boxers said calmly. "Have you called Yoshi? Maybe he could help a little."  
  
"Yuh? How is he supposed to help? Yoshi is an old man, he can't do anything." Slip pointed out.  
  
"Slip, he is only fifty! Besides he was trained by Master Roshi before he died.  
  
Son Yoshi was a descendent of Goten. None of his children had learned martial arts, but he was almost as good at martial arts as Roshi's father. The only problem was that he was a hermit that lived out in the middle of nowhere and was very hard to find.  
  
"Fine! If one of you wants to try to track him down, be my guest. But I want both of you at Capsule Corp in twenty minutes when I land!" Slip said to finish the conversation. She hung up before either of them could answer back.  
  
* * *  
  
Twenty one minutes later, Slip landed in the Capsule Corp's overly large private hangar. She got up and went to wake "Kinomi" up. To her surprise she was already awake.  
  
"So first things first, you are going to give me back my tail. Oh, and don't try to claim that it is someplace else. Roshi said it was at this Capsule Corp." She said as she got up from the couch.  
  
"Ah, um yes. It is here. If you could just wait a bit I will get it ah for you." Slip said while trying to suppress her fear.  
  
'She is going to kill me. I am going to die. Roshi this is all your fault.' Slip thought as she led Ichigo into the building.  
  
Slip led her away from where her lab was and over to an off-limits area of the newer dome. Slip had only learned the keycode to get into this area of the buildings a few months ago. Within was stored some of the most advanced technology humans had ever seen. Some made by Bulma, or Teddy, or Boxers the first, or any of the other great scientists who had come from the family. Some of it was the creations of mad scientists like Dr. Gero, and was here for the protection of the planet. Some of it, however, was alien.  
  
Slip had spent days wandering around in these rooms, so she was not the least bit surprised to see the girl she knew as Kinomi gawking like a tourist.  
  
"What is this place?" She asked Slip.  
  
"We call it the vault. We keep stuff that is too dangerous or advanced to be allowed to fall in the wrong hands in here." Slip said, as they passed the rebuilt but never reactivated Android 16.  
  
"So why are we here?"  
  
"Because we also keep some prototypes and other older equipment in here and there is a machine in here that I need." Slip said quickly.  
  
"So my tail isn't in here?" The girl said with a tone of warning as she stopped walking.  
  
"No, it is not, but this is on the way. Besides, the sooner we get this taken care of the sooner you can do whatever the heck Roshi wants you to do."  
  
"Fine but you had better make it fast." The girl replied.  
  
The two of them were now walking through row after row of filing cabinets. Each one filled with thousands of capsules. Most of the stuff stored in the vault was actually stored in these capsules. Only the few things that would be dangerous or possibly damaged by encapsulating were stored out in the open.  
  
After a few minutes of looking for the right drawer, Slip found what she was looking for. "Ah here we go, Automated Saiyan Armor Lab." She read off the capsule.  
  
After walking to a large open area, she threw the capsule. After the smoke cleared, a large domed building with a computer terminal beside the door stood waiting to be used.  
  
"The fabric used to make that gi you are wearing is extremely hard to make. This building is actually a factory just for the manufacture of clothing like that. Since I can't let you damage any of Pan's stuff, and you don't have anything of your own to wear anymore, I decided to bring you here." Slip said.  
  
"You brought me here for some stupid clothes? I don't have time for this nonsense!"  
  
"Well if you would stop arguing with me every chance you get, we would be done here and you would have more time. Now get in there!" Slip said.  
  
"What reason is there for having me go inside some stupid clothes factory? Turn the stupid thing on and get it over with."  
  
"You need to be measured by the factory that it can make stuff that fits you."  
  
Images of the last time she had been fitted for a new set of armor filled Ichigo's head for a few moments. "That's it, I am leaving. Good bye." The girl said as she turned around to leave."  
  
"Fine, leave. But you aren't going anywhere with in those clothes. You could have had nice new ones, but I guess you would rather go around butt naked then be bothered with spending a little bit of time getting something THAT ACTUALLY FITS YOU AND DOESN'T LOOK TOO SMALL FOR YOU!" Slip screamed back.  
  
"Fine. Fine. You win. Don't know why you think some stupid outfit is going to make any difference to anything. Stupid waste of time but hey why not? You want me smelling like some flowers too?"  
  
"Just tell the computer what color to make it and get in there." Slip said back ignoring the comment.  
  
"Fine!" Kinomi said. She went over and looked at the screen for a little while. "What all this thing makes is clothes EXACTLY LIKE WHAT I AM WEARING NOW?"  
  
"YES NOW GET YOUR BUTT IN THERE BEFORE I FIND A WAY TO HAVE ROSHI COME KICK YOUR ASS!"  
  
"FINE! Light Storm Blue, Black and Heather Gray." She told the computer. She then walked into the building and slammed the door.  
  
"BITCH!" Slip screamed at her after she was out of earshot.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo had walked into a blank white room. A black dot on the ceiling was the only thing there was to break up the glowing whiteness.  
  
"Whoever designed this must have been one boring person." She said out loud. "Must have been Slip."  
  
"Please relax." A monotone computer voice said.  
  
Ichigo looked around the room. 'I am in a white room that has nothing in it and for all I know might be some sort of death trap and I am supposed to relax? Not going to happen.'  
  
"For proper fit you must relax. Please take a deep breath and exhale slowly."  
  
Ichigo looked around the room as if expecting some surprise attack.  
  
The voice repeated it's request several more times.  
  
Ichigo finally took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  
  
Suddenly, a red beam of light shot from the black dot tracing over her.  
  
It surprised Ichigo and she jumped out of the way.  
  
"Error in measurement. Please return to the center of the room and remain calm."  
  
"It could have warned me." Ichigo said to herself. Since the red beam had not hurt, she stepped back into the center of the room and let the beam play across her once more.  
  
"Please bring yourself to your maximum power for best fit." The voice said.  
  
'This thing is more demanding then my father' Ichigo thought for a moment.  
  
"Please bring yourself to your maximum power for best fit." The voice repeated.  
  
Ichigo used her anger to boost her power level up as high as she could.  
  
One again she was scanned by the red light.  
  
"Thank you." The voice said. "Please select styles of garments you wish to be manufactured." As it was talking a wall opened up to reveal a large computer panel.  
  
'That's it? Huh, that was a lot easier then the normal way.' She thought as she approached the panel. She was surprised to see a life-sized hologram of herself appear beside the panel. She soon realized that this was to allow her to see what the various clothes would look like on her. She was also surprised to find that while there was nothing that could be considered to be actual armor, there were several different types of bodysuits and gi's to choose from. There was also a count down timer showing how long it would be until the chosen fabric colors were done being manufactured. Obviously it took the machine some time to make the fabric of certain colors. Which explained why she had had to tell it the colors before she went in.  
  
"Stupid dumb clothes anyway." She mumbled to herself.  
  
Ichigo spent less then a minute to choose the cut and style of gi she wanted. She chose a traditional kimono styled blue gi with full-length pants like what she had on now. Under that she chose a gray Vest and Black bodysuit that stopped mid-bicep and mid-thigh. Last but not least, she had several black bras shorts, and other items made. Once she was done selecting her outfit, all she had to do was wait for the factory to make it and the several bodysuits and other items of clothing she needed.  
  
After about forty minutes a panel opened and there in nice neat stacks was four of her new gis.  
  
She dressed quickly. The new black bodysuit fit much better then the old one and the storm blue gi was very close to her eye color, so she liked that too. Grabbing the gray belt, she tied it around her waist and grabbed the rest of the stuff.  
  
"Ok lets go." She said as she walked out of the door.  
  
Slip didn't even argue. She just led the way to her lab.  
  
Ichigo finally realized what she had been stalling for when the got to the door of what must have been the lab. Boxers and Tee waited outside the door. Ichigo decided that it was a slight salve on her ego that Slip had wanted to wait for protection. Even if it was just the two idiots.  
  
"Now don't touch anything! There are some very important experiments going on in here." Slip told her before she walked in.  
  
The first thing Ichigo saw when she walked in was a large hologram that was displaying her tail. Slip was headed in that general direction when the hologram changed to show a picture of a highly dissected tail.  
  
"AHHHHHH AHH AHH YOU YOU YOU AH!" Ichigo was at a loss for words.  
  
"AHHHHHH" She screamed as she threw a ki ball at the general area of the lab.  
  
BOOM! Half of the lab blew up. Slip was thrown backward against the wall next to the door. Tee ran over to help her up. Boxers just looked at Ichigo like he didn't know what to do.  
  
"There, you mutilated part of me. I destroyed something that makes you who you are. We are now even." Ichigo said to Slip. Ichigo then grabbed Boxers by the arm, "show me where the training facilities are. I am tired of putting up with her."  
  
Boxer's swallowed and a huge sweatdrop appeared on his face. "Ah ok, um right this way."  
  
* * *  
  
Thank you for all the reviews people! Keep them coming and if you like this fic, spread the word! 


	20. Training and Tribulations

Chapter 20 Training, and Tribulations Monday June 16,  
  
Meanwhile, back at the Son estate...  
  
Roshi couldn't sleep. Actually, he was totally and completely awake. The fact that he had just sent Slip away with a girl who almost killed him last night did not sit at all well with him. Especially since Kinomi didn't exactly seem to be sorry for her actions.  
  
To complicate matters even more, he still had to figure out what he would tell Mariah and Kit. He didn't like lying if he could help it, but he didn't really see any other way to explain things. It was not like he could just tell Mariah the truth. That would take a LOT more explaining then he cared to even think about at the moment.  
  
So of course that and Kinomi, and Slip's safety, and his life in general were all he could think about.  
  
'What a mess.' Roshi thought as he put down the 4 star ball. In his usual fashion for when he was deep in thought, he was seated at his desk. His computer to his left, its screen was filled with various helpful passages from his ancestor's diaries and journals. Then, his journal sat to his right, and the dragon ball sat right in front of him.  
  
So there he sat. Thinking, reading and writing. As was tradition, Roshi tried his best to keep a good journal. Some of his ancestors had used theirs as a log of activities, or as a pen pal or various other ways. Roshi liked to write 'Thoughts' that he had on general topics. Tapping his pen on his journal Roshi thought for a while and then started typing. While Roshi wrote, the pen detected the movements and digitized what he wrote. It then sent the information to a special mainframe at Capsule Corp where the complete digital copies of all the journals were stored. Fifty years after his death, the sealed and hidden files would become active and could then be accessed by any member of the family that wanted to read them.  
  
The digital copies of the hardbound journals and diaries were one of the greatest things Pan had done for the family. After finding all of her parent's journals and restoring her house, Pan's project in life became making sure that the stories and truth's were passed down generation by generation unchanged and undamaged. Before she had managed to convince her Granddaughter Bulma Jr. to create the mainframe and system. It was built in secrecy. No one knew how the system worked or even where it was, but it had never failed in 400 years so most people didn't put much thought into it. Those who did never found what they were looking for. Slip even admitted to have tried to hack into her mother's files once. But she couldn't find the system or the files to hack them.  
  
His thoughts organized to some degree, Roshi began to write.  
  
The Journal of Son Roshi, Monday, June 16  
  
First impressions and the Truth  
  
I have heard it said by a lot of smart people that first impressions are the most important thing in any relationship. Whether the relationship is business, social, or romantic in nature does not matter. If one makes a poor first impression, they are more or less finished before they even started.  
  
Gohan never trusted Vegeta. At least, he never completely trusted him. Just because of the fact that Vegeta tried to kill him the first time they met. Videl called Gohan her shy pensive geek throughout her life, just because of the way he acted the first few times she saw him.  
  
I can go on and on about people not changing their views. I can also find where people were completely wrong about someone after the first impression.  
  
At the moment, however, I am trying to puzzle out my first impression of Kinomi, and figure out what it means. I have to admit though that if first impressions are all that matter, we will never be able to work together and I had best get Slip to send her away as soon as possible.  
  
I doubt either of us made good first impressions. I have to admit when I first saw her climbing Korrin's Tower with her pinkie fingers going slow as a stunned snail, I thought she was an idiot. Piccolo had said that she had been in such a rush to get answers and find what she thought she was looking for, that she didn't even look around or think about what she was doing. Attack first, ask questions later.  
  
Then she gets here and spends over two hours inching up the tower to only get barely over half way up it. She could have climbed that tower in a minute, or flown up it in two seconds. What the heck was she doing? It made no sense. None what so ever. Then she won't even answer a simple question and started threatening me. I don't take threats well. Never have, never will. I must take after Vegeta. If you are going to do something so astronomically stupid as to threaten me you had darn well better be able to back up those words.  
  
She almost can.  
  
Ok, to summarize, She is arrogant, condescending, short tempered, hiding something, and very very prideful. Her ability to back up her arrogance and pride makes her very very dangerous.  
  
My ability to wound her pride and bitch slap her arrogance has definitely made an impression, but I doubt it is a very good one.  
  
She has more reasons to not like me then I have to not like her. 1. I rip off her tail. 2. I ogle her and then laugh at her. 3. I beat the crap out of her and in the process practically destroy all of her clothing. 4. In the process of blowing her clothing off of her and beating the crap out of her I accidentally grabbed her chest. 5. I mock her words and throw her around like a rag doll. 6. I saw her nude.  
  
I hope Tee dies long before me; cause I never want him to read that. He is such a hormonal teenager. I cannot believe he actually asked me what it felt like. And then I accidentally walk in on her. Boy wasn't that great. She already thought I was a pervert. So what do I do? Oh, just every pervert's fantasy.  
  
Roshi stopped writing and got up to blow his nose. 'That's odd, I never get nosebleeds.' He thought as he dabbed at his nose for a bit and then sniffling returned to his journal.  
  
Anyway, all Tee saw was her physical beauty. That is not the right way to think about a girl, any girl. Not to say that Kinomi isn't very stunning. She is. Not that I have ever seen another girl in the same state of undress, but I can imagine, and Kinomi is very nicely put together. If Niko is an 8 or so, Kinomi is at least a 9.5 (I do not believe a man can label any girl a 10 unless he is married to her because to be a ten she has to be perfect. Beauty like so many other things is in the eye of the beholder, and if a girl is perfect in your eyes, she had darn well better be married to you.)  
  
Kinomi will definitely (if she ever calms down and stops being such an enormous bitch) be some guy's ten someday. Very easily. Her body is just a work of art. Even the flaws beg questions and attention. She has a hook shaped scar right...  
  
On second thought this is not the line of thought I want to be thinking about. Kinomi while being a horrendous bitch is a person and it is not dignified to think about anyone in that manner. Besides, even if she was going to be staying on Earth for an extended period of time she is like an old fashioned nuclear reactor minus the control rods. Unstable, in a state of meltdown and dangerous to all surrounding life.  
  
That is just my first impression of course, but I don't think I am wrong about that. Besides, thinking like that makes me feel very very bad about betraying Mariah.  
  
Roshi stopped writing and thought about Mariah for a moment. 'Funny, I've never thought about Mariah that way before. Heh, Mariah is really nice looking, but I guess not in that way.'  
  
'Stop; now you are betraying Mariah. Just because she isn't the most beautiful person does not mean you should think less of her. She has a... a... I want to say ten for personality, but after what I just wrote I guess a 9.9 where as Kinomi has like a -50. No doubt she's nice to look at, but man what a bitch!'  
  
Roshi looked at where he had stopped and continued his previous thoughts.  
  
Which is my other problem. How do I get her to stop worrying without telling her more then I want to? I would do anything for Mariah, but I just cannot bring myself to tell her the truth.  
  
I know, Kit says that fate will bite me if I don't, but I... I want to be sure before I tell her. I mean sure totally sure. The problem is that I don't think I will ever be sure. Gohan had it easy. Videl FOUND out about him and forced him to come clean. Why can't I have things so easy?  
  
Because life is not supposed to be easy. That is why.  
  
I think I will just tell them that I am sorry, but my thing at CC lasted until late and I did not get home until around 2.  
  
That is honest enough.  
  
Which moves me to the real problem. I am starting to LOOK like a Saiyan. I bulked up. Noticeably in the past few weeks.  
  
This has Mariah worried. She thinks I am using drugs. Kit thinks it is funny. It is not funny. I don't want Mariah to worry but I don't want to hurt her either and I want to make her happy, but I don't think she will believe a simple story; she is too smart for that. So I will have to tell her everything. I can't do that yet. I just can't.  
  
Which gets me thinking about Kinomi again. That girl won't get out of my head. Anyway, I know Kinomi isn't telling me the whole truth. I withheld stuff about training from her because I could not trust her. I realize that she is doing the same.  
  
Why is the truth so hard to tell?  
  
Why are first impressions so hard to overlook?  
  
If or when I can answer those two questions I will be a very very lucky man.  
  
Son Roshi  
  
Roshi looked at his watch. It was 10:02 Slip had been at CC with Kinomi for over an hour now. 'I thought I felt Kinomi's ki spike a few times, but it didn't stay that way very long, and everyone at CC is still alive. All million or so of them. I forget how big that place is until I try to track ki at it.'  
  
Roshi stood and grabbed the Dragonball. 'If only the rest of you were around. I could wish for Kinomi's problems to be solved so she could leave, and then I would wish to be able to know what to do with Mariah.'  
  
Sitting back down he called Kit first. She finally answered after six rings. "Hello?" She said groggily off screen.  
  
"Hi, Kit, this is Roshi. What's up?"  
  
"Where were you yesterday? Kit said while walking past the screen in a big fluffy robe. "Mariah kept me up until 4 waiting for you to call us back."  
  
'Till four? What on Earth?' "What?! I was at Capsule Corp until 2 or so, but I thought that was too late to call." Roshi said sounding every bit as confused as he was.  
  
Kit reappeared on the screen. She had thrown on a green tee shirt and some mesh shorts. The shirt however was backwards and inside out. So the tag was hanging right below her chin.  
  
"Kit, are you ok?" Roshi asked, "You look a bit disheveled."  
  
Kit rubbed her eyes quick and looked at Roshi like he had just blurted the world's largest understatement. "No! I got like 2 hours of sleep last night and now that I finally fall a sleep, you wake me up."  
  
Roshi did the math in his head. "Um Kit, if Mariah left at 4, you should have gotten about 6 hours of sleep."  
  
Kit rolled her eyes and looked sheepish for a bit. "I know... but I was dumb and..."  
  
"And you drank some of Mariah's coffee." Roshi finished for her.  
  
"Yep." She admitted.  
  
Roshi laughed. Kit avoided most caffinated beverages like the plague. She couldn't handle caffeine. It made her hyper, jittery, jumpy, and overly alert.  
  
It was a rather odd contrast to Mariah, who sucked down Frapaccinoes cappuccinos, and any other caffinated beverage like a jet engine uses fuel.  
  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to bed." Roshi said while shaking his head.  
  
"Wait, what was going on at the Capsule Corp that you were so busy?" Kit said quickly before he could end the connection.  
  
"Just some stuff for Slip. It really isn't that important. I just wanted to say I was sorry I didn't get back to the two of you. Anyway I think I'll send Mariah an e-mail, but if you see her could you tell her I am sorry we didn't get to do something last night?"  
  
"Ok, no problem. Well, I guess, it is summer, and I don't have to work, so I am going back to bed. Mariah works tonight from 4 to close at the mall remember." Kit replied  
  
"Oh, yeah that's right. Well catch ya later." Roshi said before ending the conversation.  
  
Roshi quickly typed out an e-mail to Mariah and then sent it. Shaking his head he grabbed the Dragonball off of his lap and put the orange globe down on its pillow before he grabbed one of his many palm pads and headed down the stairs.  
  
'Just because there has not been a problem caused by my having sent Kinomi away with Slip, doesn't mean I can relax anytime soon.'  
  
After quickly making a small breakfast of French toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages, a few liters of Milk and several glasses of Orange juice, oh, and grabbing three peaches, he sat down to eat.  
  
His mother smelled the food, and walked in to see what all he was eating. Even after being married to a Saiyan for over 20 years and having watched Roshi's appetite grow faster then he did, Beth still could not get over how much they ate.  
  
Roshi heard her coming and grabbed his pad. When she walked in he was busy typing something into it with his right hand while he shoveled food into his mouth with his left.  
  
"What are you working on?" His mother asked seeing him concentrating on the pad.  
  
Roshi quickly swallowed. His father may talk with his mouth full, but his mother had never allowed him to get away with it. "I'm just flipping through a bunch of Gohan, Videl, and Pan's journal entries."  
  
"Whatever for?"  
  
"I'm trying to see if they ever got grounded for saving the world."  
  
His mother's sharp intake of breath and then reddening glare told him that he had gotten her attention.  
  
"And did you find anything?" Beth asked tensely.  
  
Roshi knew he was playing with fire, but his mother usually liked a good argument, so he was hoping he could convince her to lighten up on him and let him go to keep watch over Kinomi.  
  
"Nope. Seems Gohan never got grounded his entire life." Roshi replied. Roshi had memorized the entries long ago. Videl had been grounded for dating Gohan, but that had not lasted long. Gohan had never been grounded. And as for Pan, well, Pan got away with just about anything she wanted to. She did, however, get grounded once.  
  
"Oh wait, here we go. Pan got grounded for a month once." Roshi replied looking up.  
  
"Oh, and what did Pan do to get grounded?" Beth asked not sounding very interested.  
  
"Seems she and a few friends broke into the male's locker room at school and stole all of the equipment from the Baseball team's lockers. They then replaced the equipment with string bikinis that read Girly Men."  
  
This actually brought a smile onto Beth's lips. Oh really. So what happened?"  
  
Well, it seems they gave the equipment they had stolen to the rival school and then hid a camera in the locker room to tape the guy's reactions when they saw the bikinis. The problem was they left the camera transmitting on wide band and most of Satan City got to watch the humiliation of the OSHS team. Since Yamcha had retired from the pros and was the assistant coach at the time, the team had been expected to do very well. They still did but the stigmata of that event ended there season rather quickly. I guess Gohan was rather mad about it."  
  
Beth sighed and shook her head. "So since all you did was what was it you said? Saved the world, you don't think you should be grounded. Is that right?"  
  
"Hit the nail on the head mom."  
  
"Ok, care to explain why Pan's house looks like it has been ransacked by thieves and why there are two huge black holes in the hardwood floor in the dinning room?"  
  
The hopeful smile on Roshi's face died. "Um... well..."  
  
"That's what I thought." Beth said while grabbing the sausage link Roshi had grabbed while they were talking. "You are still grounded."  
  
"MOM!!!!"  
  
"Don't take that tone with me young man!"  
  
"But... But... But... I didn't do anything wrong! This is so unfair!"  
  
"That's it! Go to your room!" His mother yelled as she grabbed the plate away from him.  
  
"What?!?! I'm not done eating yet!"  
  
Son Beth turned around and glared up at her son. "So, You wanted to lip off to me, so now I am punishing you the best way I know how. You will eat only NORMAL amounts of food until I am satisfied that you have learned your lesson."  
  
Roshi turned white. 'She's going to starve me to death. I've never seen her this mad. Oh this is soooooooo unfair!!!!!!!'  
  
Realizing that he wouldn't get anywhere by continueing his argument, he went up to his room.  
  
* * *  
  
Boxers looked around. 'Shit.' "Well, follow me." He told the fuming Saiyan girl.  
  
The original gravity room was built right next to Bulma's lab. Since that was now Slip's private lab, and Ichigo had just destroyed a very large portion of it, Boxers decided that he would have to take her to the big one.  
  
Taking her to the big gravity room was easier said then done however. Capsule Corp. had grown a lot since the time when it was just the one dome that Slip's lab was in. There were now six separate domes on the CC campus. The largest and now primary headquarters one was 165 stories tall and just under a km wide. Then there was the Vault, and the Spacedome, the Biodome, and last but not least the SaiyaDome.  
  
SaiyaDome was known as the Fortress by almost everyone. To Boxer's knowledge only family members knew what was in there. While there were huge areas within the CC that the average person would never get into, the Vault for example, there were no connecting tunnels to the Saiya dome shown on any document, map, or file. Every building on the grounds had multiple tunnels, walkways, and Turbolift people movers connecting them. There was nothing connecting the SaiyaDome.  
  
The SaiyaDome was about halfway between the First dome and the MainDome. It was one of the oldest buildings on the grounds having been built specifically to house the training facilities for his highness Vegeta. Sometime about 300 years ago someone had tried to break into it and had activated the training Androids. Since whoever or whatever it was did not survive the encounter, the Son Briefs of the time decided to seal the dome. They did not want anyone else to get hurt, and they did not use it since most of the fighters of that era trained over in the 439 area anyway. The dome had since been attacked about once every 60 years or so by some idiot trying to see what was in there. The walls of the SaiyaDome had been made of a substance that absorbed energy and were strong enough to withstand the might of a fully powered up Vegeta. Needless to say no one had been successful in getting in.  
  
The only way in was through an underground tunnel that does not show up on any map. Local legend said that the dome was sealed because of a nuclear disaster that had happened during some secret experiment. Of course, no one minded since this just deterred possible snoops.  
  
Boxers was trying desperately to remember how to get to the entrance to that tunnel. He knew it was around here someplace, but he didn't know where. Even though the original dome was now one of the smallest, it was still quite large. Most of it had been turned into a public museum displaying the works of Dr. Briefs and Bulma. Along with the gardens and other interesting features of the building. They had yet to leave the private and sealed to visitors' section of the dome however.  
  
Mumbling under his breath he continued walking. * * *  
  
Ichigo followed the young demisaiyan who had identified himself as Boxers around for what felt like forever. After they passed the same statue for the third time she had had enough.  
  
"Do you even know where you are going?" She asked snidely.  
  
"Yes." Boxers spat back. He stopped next to the statue and turned to look back at her. "I just don't remember exactly how to get there. If you can't tell this place is huge."  
  
Looking at him Ichigo suddenly realized why she had so much trouble accepting him as a Saiyan. He looked nothing like a Saiyan. He had long limp blonde hair (NO not SuperSaiyan hair... Think Sharpener only not as tall or bulky) blue eyes and most noticeably no tail. The statue on the other hand looked like a Saiyan. The statue showed the man with his hands cupped right in front of his heart as if he were about to charge and fire off a ki blast.  
  
The base of the statue had Saiyan writing on it identifying the man as Vegeta's father, the last "King" of the Saiyans.  
  
Seeing that made Ichigo mad for a moment. 'Stupid traitorous bastard's calling themselves royalty.' She thought to herself.  
  
"You call yourself a Saiyan? You don't even know were the training facilities are? It is no wonder why you are so weak." Ichigo said as she pointed at the statue. "That is what a Saiyan looks like. Proud and strong and determined. You look like some sort of frightened animal." She said as she pointed to the statue.  
  
Boxers turned to look at the statue. "Oh DUH I am an idiot!" he yelled. He then made a ki ball in his hand and placed in the cupped hands of the Statue.  
  
To Ichigo's surprise, the Statue absorbed the ki ball and then a panel in the wall opened up. There was a long down-slopping hallway behind the door.  
  
"After you." He said politely completely ignoring her earlier comments.  
  
'Stupid idiot doesn't even know when to get mad. He knows he can't win so he avoids the fight. I think I might be able to get a bit more out of him then I got out of Roshi. That Roshi guy seemed a lot smarter and protective of his information then this guy.' Ichigo thought to herself as she walked down the hallway.  
  
"So tell me, Roshi claims that you guys are descendants of Super Saiyans. Considering what the legend say about Super Saiyans, I find it hard to believe." Ichigo said trying to goad him a little bit.  
  
Boxers ignored her.  
  
The two of them came to a very large very heavy looking vault-like door. There was a handprint reader station on the wall, but other then that there was nothing of note.  
  
"Once again you show that you don't deserve to call yourself a Saiyan. A REAL Saiyan would never allow themselves to become so weak after achieving so much power. I don't know whether I should be appalled at you and your cousins or if I should just laugh at your pathetic attempts to claim something you cannot prove." She said snidely.  
  
"Look, I don't really care what your opinion of me or my cousins is. Roshi beat you to a millimeter of your death last night, so don't act so high and mighty. You call me weak, but I happen to know that I am probably more then a match for most of your high and mighty pureblooded morons who have never seen a fraction of the things my ancestors saw and defeated. So don't you dare go putting on any airs with me." Boxers said hotly.  
  
"Roshi got lucky and everyone including himself knows it." She said back.  
  
Boxers threw his hands up in the air. "That's it. I tried to ignore you. I tried to be nice. Last night you claimed you didn't want to kill those people. Well from what I have seen, you have not shown any remorse for your actions. You are hot headed, judgmental, arrogant, snide, prejudiced, rude, you act like a spoiled child, and over all I would say you are every bit as barbaric as the rest of the Saiyan race was before Frieza sent them all to hell." Boxers continued on before she could interrupt. "You say I am not worthy of the name Saiyan. Fine I am an Earthling as have been ALL of my ancestors since the time Vegeta settled on Earth. You can claim your Saiyan heritage all you want it means about as much to me as a bag of flaming dog crap!" Boxers said as he turned around and walked back up the ramp.  
  
WHAM! Ichigo kicked him in the middle of his back sending him sprawling on the floor. She was seething. He had just called her and everything she believed in worthless. She realized that more then the fair share of comments had hit home exactly were she was most vulnerable. She knew her behavior was not up to what it should be, but she was not used to having anyone question her about anything.  
  
"Get up, I did not kick you that hard." Ichigo said to him. "You are right. I have not been the greatest person in my life. I did not mean everything I just said. I was only trying to get some more information out of you since Roshi has told me almost nothing."  
  
Boxers slowly got up. He glared right into her eyes as if looking for deceit. "I don't trust you and neither does Roshi. He has not told you much because he does not know if you are worthy of the information. However Kinomi, after what I just said to you, it took one heck of a lot of resolve to say what you just said. So I think I am going to take you to the Hall of Heroes as we call it and show you some of the proof you are looking for."  
  
"Follow me." He said.  
  
"Lead the way." She replied.  
  
* * *  
  
Boxers lead her to a large room with a huge screen for watching movies and many displays of various objects, gis and other miscellaneous things.  
  
"This is one of the larger historical shrines I suppose you can call it. Pan's house is almost considered sacred and then the Kame house has a lot of other neat stuff in it. Oh, and then there is the lookout, but I have never been there." He said to her as he sat down in one of the chairs in the middle of the room.  
  
"Although neither Tee nor I are related to Goku like Slip and Roshi are, the entire story really starts with him."  
  
Boxers spent the next hour regaling the tale of Goku's life as best as he could. Ichigo was fascinated. She realized after being shown various artifacts and pictures that these people really were the real thing. She interrupted the story several times to ask questions.  
  
"So Goku did that Kamehameha after only seeing it once? And a Human really did invent it? It seems to be a rather powerful attack."  
  
"Yes, yes, and yes. It is very much a universal ki attack. It works by focusing and amplifying a person's ki. This makes it much more powerful then just the normal ki beam. Oh, and while you don't think much of the Human race, many of the skills Roshi used last night were developed or taught by humans." Boxers replied before continuing on.  
  
"So these things called Dragonballs could make people immortal and even bring people back from the dead?"  
  
"Yes, but they don't exist anymore so don't try to look for them."  
  
"What happened to them?"  
  
"During Goku's time they got over used and the Dragon turned evil. After Goku beat all the evil dragons, he more or less died and took the balls with him, but back to the story."  
  
He then told her about Goku's fight with Vegeta, and the start of his battle with Frieza.  
  
"Do you know how to do the Kiao-ken?"  
  
"No, I don't know if anyone can do it anymore."  
  
When Boxers got to the Frieza/Goku fight she became even more interested. She was particularly shocked to learn that Changelings could transform several times and get much much stronger then they were in their normal form. She asked many questions. Most of which Boxers could not answer.  
  
"How was Cell made!?!?"  
  
"Cell was a bioroid. He was made using genetic material from all the strong fighters of the time. The genetic research that it took to make him is a good reason why what Slip wanted to do with you is totally and absolutely wrong."  
  
"But you didn't try to stop her." Ichigo said defensively.  
  
"Roshi would have, and even if he didn't Slip wouldn't have done anything with the research, not that that makes it right, but she just craves information."  
  
Ichigo grimaced, "She's still a barbarian."  
  
"Ah, yeah well to continue, after Cell beat Goku, Goku had Gohan fight..."  
  
"So there is another level beyond Super Saiyan?" She asked next after Boxers continued on.  
  
"Yes there are actually three levels of Super Saiyan and then the Golden Ouzaru and what I guess you could call Super Saiyan four. But SS4 is not reached the same way as the other transformations so I don't know how to classify it."  
  
They talked for a little while longer and Ichigo was surprised in the actual intelligence that Boxer's showed. In the end they headed back down to the Gravity Room, there was still a large amount of training to be done.  
  
* * *  
  
'Where the hell is he?' Slip asked herself as she watched the fire control teams work at saving some of her lab. She had already send the clean up crews away since she didn't want them digging through her stuff. But the fire was too large for her to handle herself and the explosion had knocked out the automatic systems.  
  
'It's gone... all gone... And it's all HER fault.' She thought as she dialed Roshi's number again.  
  
"Hello?" He answered.  
  
"GET YOUR WORTHLESS ASS HERE NOW AND KILL THE BITCH!!!" Slip screamed at him.  
  
Roshi groaned. "What did she do now?"  
  
"She blew up my lab. She went nuts and she blew the hell out of my main bank of mainframes and hit one of the backup generators and it blew up and now most of my entire lab is burning to the ground as we speak!!!"  
  
"That sucks. So, she didn't attack you?" Roshi inquired.  
  
"No, but she blew up my lab! Do you have any idea how irreplaceable most of that stuff is?" Slip yelled franticly.  
  
"About as irreplaceable as her tail I would bet. Let me guess, you actually took her to her tail rather then her tail to her. So she saw what you had done and got very very mad. Right?"  
  
Slip blinked a few times. "You... you... you... you... You're on her side! How can you be on her side? She tried to kill you and she blew up my lab and she's dangerous!"  
  
"But she didn't attack you. Did she?" Roshi replied sternly.  
  
"Nooooo but!"  
  
"But nothing Slip. Equipment you can replace. Everything you had on those mainframes was backed up twenty times on some other system someplace at the CC. All she cost you was some money and some time. We cost her a bit more in retrospect, and from what she said her people are being killed by the Changelings. You should have thought about how she would react. Don't blame her for your actions."  
  
"Well then why can't we ship her off to Namek and have her wish for everything to be normal again so she can go away?! Oh, and do you blame her for killing those five people she killed on her way hear? Or are you the almighty mama's boy going to forgive her and make it all better? I suppose you are just waiting to use the Namekian Dragonballs huh? Alls well that ends well or something?" Slip replied snidely.  
  
Roshi sighed. "Damn. Sorry, but I ah lied about using the Namekian Dragonballs. We can't."  
  
"What!?! Then how are we going to bring those people back?!?!"  
  
Roshi shrunk into his chair. "Ah, we can't bring them back."  
  
"WHY NOT?!"  
  
"Cause when Goku absorbed our Dragonballs, the Nameks took it as a sign that we relied too much on them. Since the decided that it was the unverse's way to correct things, they won't let us use their balls until our Dragonballs return."  
  
"Hmm, in retrospect then she killed five people. KILL HER YOU PANSEY!!! We know she did it. IT would keep her from causeing more problems and it would be justice!"  
  
"I can't"  
  
"WHY THE HELL NOT?!?!?!"  
  
"Because I don't think she is evil, and I am currently grounded without food. If you have a problem with her, handle it yourself."  
  
"Your mother took away your food?!"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Ouch, ok, maybe I can talk some sense into her."  
  
"I doubt it but you could tell me how to talk to Kinomi through her scouter so I can actually train them."  
  
"Oh, ok, I'll get on it." Slip said sounding unenthoused.  
  
"You do that. In the meantime, I am going to lay here and listen to my stomach complain."  
  
* * *  
  
"You know now that I have told you quite a bit about our history, I think you should maybe open up and tell me a little bit about your history and that of the planet you came from. From what Roshi has said you claim to be from the home planet of the Saiyan race." Boxers asked as they walked back down the ramp towards the vault-like door.  
  
"I am from the home planet of the Saiyan race. And I will tell you guys about our history a bit more, but I am not ready yet." Ichigo said avoiding the issue.  
  
"I guess, but remember this, just because I told you all of this stuff does not make us friends. Roshi and Tee and I will still be watching you." Boxers said as he walked over and placed his right hand on the reader.  
  
"I know." Ichigo said to herself.  
  
"This system has not been accessed in 304 years 6 months and 18 days. Please wait while it updates protocols." A voice said.  
  
"New computer core located... accessing... accessing... Connection to network hub verified. New data download in progress. Identity: Boxers Briefs. Please confirm Security level three please." The voice said.  
  
Boxers looked panicked for a moment. "Ah... Oh yeah." He said as he sent another ball of ki into the handprint scanner.  
  
"Ki manipulation confirmed. Who beat Cell?"  
  
"Son Gohan beat him even though the world still thinks that Mr. Satan beat him." Boxers said quickly.  
  
"Access confirmed. This dome was sealed for a reason. Please lock it up when you are done." The voice said as the large round door started to roll away.  
  
The air was stale. Like it had not been disturbed in many many years. The odor of Saiyan sweat hit them as they walked in.  
  
"Ugh that reeks. Fans full." Boxers said as they walked in.  
  
The two of them walked past two changing rooms and pile of old and battered armor.  
  
"Roshi said you can't sense ki. I am not nearly as good as he is, but I can do it. Slip was supposed to rig up your scouter so that it would transmit to Roshi's computer, so he could tell you what to do, but I doubt she is in a big hurry now." He said as he walked over to a computer panel.  
  
After poking around at the panel for a few moments he was able to find the link to Slip's lab. Miraculously Ichigo had not damaged the main computer core in the lab. Just the experiments and a lot of data storage modules had been damaged. "WHAT DO YOU WANT? Slip demanded through the screen.  
  
Ichigo could see that Slip's lab was still burning. It made her smile.  
  
"Ah could you get that scouter fixed. I would really like to have Roshi handling things here."  
  
"I have more important things to worry about right now! But fine when I find the time I will set it to transmit." She said back.  
  
"Thanks." He replied.  
  
"Come on," he said as he opened up a porthole like door into a large round white room. It was about 500 meters from side to side. With the exception of a large tower in the middle of the room and a window by the door, the room was featureless.  
  
"You call this a training room? What am I supposed to do run around in circles?" She demanded hotly.  
  
"Ah yeah, once we turn the gravity generator on." Boxers said as he walked to the tower. "Just wait there, I will turn the system on and be right back."  
  
"Gravity Generator?" Ichigo said more to herself then anyone else.  
  
Boxers walked to the tower and stepped into an alcove that protected the computer panels.  
  
'Ha, the system is set for 1060 Gs! That would really suck to turn it on right now. Who on Earth used this thing last? Ha, maybe I should just turn it on and see how she likes it.' He thought to himself as he was powering up the system.  
  
He set it for 10 times normal gravity and activated the room.  
  
Ichigo heard a beep and then a slight hum and then felt quite a bit heavier. In fact for the first time since leaving home, she felt normal.  
  
"I still don't see what kind of workout this room can give me." She said to Boxers as he walked out of the alcove.  
  
"Ok... ah, Computer Increase gravity to 20 Gs."  
  
Ichigo watched as Boxers almost fell down under the new pressure. She was surprised at the sudden extra weight. She realized that she was close to twice if not twice as heavy as she had been moments ago.  
  
"Maybe this room can give me a workout." She said as Boxers fell to his hands and knees.  
  
He recovered quickly enough trying to make it look like he had just started doing push-ups.  
  
"Wimp" She said as she got down to do the same.  
  
"What are you talking about?" He stammered under the load. "This is twenty times normal gravity how can you be so relaxed?"  
  
After hearing him complain about the gravity level, Ichigo decided to show off a bit. Just for the fun of it. "How high can the gravity get in this room? And will the computer adjust it if I ask it too?" She asked as she used her arms to launch herself into a backflip.  
  
"Ah I don't know how high it can get. I know it gets as high as 1060 times normal though, cause that is what it had been set at." Boxers said as he slowly stood up.  
  
"ONE THOUSAND SIXTY?! What the heck was using this room last?!?!" Ichigo blurted in shock.  
  
"Ah that would probably be Trunks. Ah you know who that is right?" Boxers said.  
  
"So what kind of training are... Whew damn that can cause vertigo!" Tee said as he walked into the Gravity Room and almost fell down.  
  
"We really have not started yet. We are kind of just trying to figure out how to use the room at the moment." Boxers said.  
  
"Well, Slip said to give this to her" Tee said while holding up Ichigo's scouter and pointing at her. "And Roshi said that the two of us were supposed to train with her."  
  
"Remind me to kick Beth for grounding Roshi." Boxers replied while Tee gave Ichigo her scouter and she put it on.  
  
"Kinomi you there now?" Roshi asked through the earpiece. "Kinomi? Hello, anyone there?"  
  
"Huh, Oh yeah I am here with your two cousins. Not that I will be able to learn anything from them, but why should you care." She said back.  
  
"Hey" Both Tee and Boxers said at once.  
  
"Ok, first things first. I want you guys to figure out how much gravity you can take before you can't stand up anymore. Have the computer start at 10 Gs and go up one gravity a minute while you guys run around the room. Don't over exert yourself but try to run as fast as you can as long as you can." Roshi said. "Once you guys have done that we can start the real training."  
  
"Fine. Hey you two Roshi wants us to run around in circles until we fall down." Ichigo told them.  
  
"Kinomi... That is not what I said to do, but close enough" Roshi scolded in her ear. * * *  
  
Forty-five minutes and more laps then Ichigo could count later, She was starting to get tired. Tee had dropped out at around 24 gravities. Then Boxers at 28. She was now running at 55 times normal gravity and it was starting to get very hard to move. Every breath burned in her chest. Her neck ached. To make matters worse, she was actually glad that Slip had forced her to get new clothing that actually fit. While no one would ever call Ichigo large busted, she still had breasts. She had heard older women complain about having pains while doing fast movements in fights and such. Before today, She had dismissed it as mostly complaints by women who were trying to skimp out of duty. Now however, the gravity was very noticeable. She had a feeling that had Slip not forced her to get underclothes that actually fit, she would have had to quit a long time ago. This fact annoyed the hell out of Ichigo.  
  
"Beep" The gravity went up to 56 times normal gravity. Ichigo stopped and bent at the waist to rest for a moment. This she realized very rapidly was a very dumb move. She almost blacked out as blood rushed to her head and she saw red.  
  
"Beep, Beeep" The computer sounded and then the gravity generators shut down.  
  
"Good job Kinomi!" Roshi said through the scouter. "Now I want you guys to go find a spot to stretch out and then relax for a few hours. Once you get done stretching I will tell you what I want you to be doing while you relax."  
  
"What good is relaxing? If I stop now I won't gain anything from all that running." Ichigo spat back.  
  
"No you won't. The Gravity Room does a lot to strengthen a person physically. But any fighter who is worth the salt of his or her own sweat knows that a battle is not only about physical strength. Besides, beating up your body will not help you as much in the long run if you never find your mental focus."  
  
"That sounds like a bunch of psychobabble to me." She shot back.  
  
"You want my help or not?" Roshi said back.  
  
"Ok Ok! I'll do it. Still sounds like a waste of perfectly good training time however." Ichigo answered. * * *  
  
"Ok, since you guys are a bunch of sissies, Roshi said you get to train while I go over to the locker room to get a drink of water and relax for a while. How does 50 Gs sound to you guys?" She said smirking. Looking at them sweatdrop she continued. "Ah, that too much for you? Wouldn't want a girl to be showing you up though would you?"  
  
"Ok, who are you and what have you done with Kinomi?" Roshi said through the scouter. "Are you actually teasing those two in good humor rather then mocking them?"  
  
"Can't tell you, and Yes I am teasing them because it is fun to look at their faces when they realize what I have just said." Ichigo said into the air. * * *  
  
Boxers and Tee watched Ichigo converse with the air and break out laughing.  
  
"Dude, what the heck did you do? This morning she tried to kill Slip and blew up her lab. Now she is like this totally different person. She is even laughing at something!" Tee said to Boxers.  
  
"I couldn't tell you. She was a total bitch this morning. I took her up to the Hall of Heroes and told her as much as I could remember from family history. Roshi could probably tell her a lot more. I have not really paid that much attention cause well you know the stories are at times rather hard to believe. Anyway, whatever it was that I told her or showed her in that room made her so a complete 180 as far as her attitude. And I think she is enjoying the training in here." He replied.  
  
"Enjoying the training? How can anyone enjoy the torture sessions that Roshi is putting us through. I tell you that guy has all the luck. Who else would be so lucky as to not have to be here while being able to tell us what to do?" Tee said indignantly.  
  
"Yeah, well, Since we couldn't find Yoshi anywhere, he is the most qualified to be teaching anything. At least until His father gets back." Boxers replied.  
  
"Yeah well at least she isn't trying to kill us." Tee commented.  
  
"Why do you think Roshi has not had us spar yet? He doesn't want her to kill us."  
  
"Yeah and don't you forget it!" Ichigo said with an evil looking smirk after overhearing their conversation. * * *  
  
She walked over to them. "Roshi says we are supposed to keep the gravity off and meditate and rest for an hour or two. He said that you two would know what he meant by finding our focus or something like that."  
  
Ichigo didn't know if she liked the evil look that suddenly appeared on Boxer's face.  
  
"Roshi wants us to have you just sit there and focus on your ki. This will help you focus your energy more effectively. Making you even more dangerous. However I think we can do something even better." He said with a smile.  
  
"Why to I get the feeling that I am not going to like this idea one bit?" Ichigo said back.  
  
"I'll be right back." Boxers said as he ran out of the room.  
  
The look on Tee's face was enough to tell Ichigo that he had no idea what was going on.  
  
While she was pondering Boxers, she realized something that she should have realized a lot sooner. Tee was sitting at a power level of 18,054 and he was just standing there. He couldn't manipulate his ki like Roshi could. Either that or he just wasn't.  
  
"Can you lower your ki like Roshi can?" She blurted out aloud.  
  
"Ah, what do you mean. Yeah here watch." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then his power level dropped rapidly. It got down to around 350 and then he stopped and opened his eyes again. "I can supress it further, but right now I would rather not."  
  
"Ok, now float up into the air and hover there for a bit." She said.  
  
"I don't see why but ok." He said as he floated up into the air.  
  
Her scouter beeped as his ki rose to 8,489.  
  
"Just as I thought. You are not much better at keeping your ki down then I am. I wonder how Roshi does it." She said.  
  
Boxers came back in carrying a basket full of small ball things. "While you were running around the room making fun of us weak boys, I was reading up on the abilities and training programs that this room has and I found something neat."  
  
"Oh, what is it?"  
  
"You'll see." He said as he started tossing the balls into the air. They floated around and then started circling the three of them.  
  
"What are these for?" Tee asked.  
  
"Well, they are training droids. They shoot little tiny ki blasts at us so we have to keep our eyes on them and block their attacks."  
  
"Funny, that reminds me of a movie I once watched. Star Battles, or War Stars or something like that." Tee said.  
  
"That doesn't matter, the hard part is that while we are trying to keep watch on these things the gravity in the room is going to be changing randomly." Boxers said. He finished tossing the twelve balls into the air and turned on the program.  
  
Ichigo felt herself being yanked into the air when the gravity suddenly changed direction. Twisting herself around she landed on her feet. She was now standing on the curved ceiling of the dome. She barely jumped out of the way as Tee slammed into the ceiling beside her.  
  
"Ahh!" She squawked as a ball shot her in the leg. She turned and sent a ki blast back at it. The ball absorbed the ki blast and sent it right back at her.  
  
"Ah" Ichigo jumped up out of the way and lost her balance as the gravity changed to be about 18 Gs to the side of the room.  
  
She got shot in the back and after whipping around she realized that there were actually four of the balls hunting her specifically. Continuing to look around she saw that the two guys were not much better then she was. Boxers was in the process of getting hit by three of his droids. Tee on the other hand was lying on his back on the wall were he had fallen when the gravity changed.  
  
"I think I would have rather done the meditation." Ichigo muttered under her breath as she dodged another ki shot. * * *  
  
After a few minutes of getting shot and continuously loosing her balance, Ichigo made several observations. First, was that Tee was inept at this. Second, Boxers was much better then she was. He was rotating around the room with the gravity changes keeping his feet down towards the source of gravity at all times. He also was moving fast enough that the droids were having trouble hitting him. He was however starting to slow down.  
  
Zap Zap! "Ouch! Those things sting!" Ichigo said aloud. "Well, I guess it is what I get for not paying attention to what I was doing." She shook her head and focused on what she was doing. * * *  
  
Ichigo was in the middle of dodging a ki blast when she heard Roshi's voice. "What is going on in here?"  
  
She whipped around and saw him standing near the door. His feet were remaining firmly planted on the ground. Even though the gravity was going up at an angle towards the ceiling.  
  
"End Program. Hey, Roshi what the heck are you doing here? I thought you were grounded. What did you do to get your mother to let you come?" Boxers said in surprise.  
  
Ichigo had to catch herself as the gravity stopped. 'Jerk could have warned us' she thought as she glared daggers at Boxers.  
  
"Oh nothing much. Slip convinced my mother that I was desperately needed here. So she let me come. I am supposed to be home by 6. And then I am grounded again until I fix the damage Kinomi did to Pan's house. Hopefully we can get some stuff done today before I have to leave." He said. "Anyway, this doesn't look like the meditation that I told you to do."  
  
"What did you do to the house?" Tee asked quick.  
  
Ichigo glared at him and then Roshi. "It is not important. Let's just train. SO Boxers, just why were we doing this?"  
  
"Ah yeah, I thought that this would be more helpful." Boxers replied.  
  
"Well it does work on your reflexes, but really that is not going to help you guys much." Roshi said as he walked to the middle of the room. "Now while I was working at my house this morning, I looked up the schematics of the this room and I think that we can actually use these droids for something better.  
  
"I'm game," Tee said while rubbing a nasty looking bruise on his forehead."  
  
"What do you want us to do?" Boxers asked  
  
"Oh, don't worry, it shouldn't be that hard. But what I am going to be teaching you is important." Roshi replied. "Ok, when my dad realized that I was not using my abilities he had taught me he had me play hide and go seek. Now we can't exactly do that here. But what we can do is work on our ki manipulation."  
  
"Sounds like what I really want to learn." Ichigo said while shaking her head. "So what is the first step?"  
  
"Well first take off that scouter. Now I picked up these blind folds out in the locker room. I want all of you to put these blind folds on. Then I am going to have you guys just stand still and try to predict where I will be attacking from. I will keep my ki relatively high so it should be easy to spot. Now as I said earlier my father says lowering your ki only takes relaxation and clarity of thought. Hiding your ki takes serenity of soul, mind and spirit. With clarity of mind you can reach out your senses and detect me. With serenity of soul, you will be at peace with your body's needs. This will lower your ki and hide the actual strength you posses. With serenity of Spirit, you will be able to call upon and focus your ki faster."  
  
"Riiiiight oh wise one." Tee said mockingly.  
  
Roshi cocked his eyebrow and looked at Tee as if he was appraising an idiot. "You want to test me?" he said while putting one of the blind folds on. "When ever you guys want to all three of you can attack me." He said as he floated up into the air.  
  
"Arrogant isn't he?" Ichigo said to the two guys. "Why do you two show him what you are made of." She said while watching Roshi very closely. She had yet to discard the scouter, so she tried to have it detect his ki.  
  
It was fluctuating from five to twenty. So low he shouldn't have been able to fly at all.  
  
"This should be interesting Ichigo said to herself as she watched Tee take off making a bee-line right at Roshi. Without making the scouter so much as beep, Roshi sent a ki ball straight at Tee and then ducked under a punch thrown by Boxers.  
  
Tee barely dodged the ki ball and circled around to catch Roshi from behind.  
  
Boxers tried again feebly which resulted in Roshi grabbing him by the arm and throwing him into Tee.  
  
Ichigo saw her chance and threw a Star Ripper at his back.  
  
Roshi let it get almost to him before he destroyed it using a Masenko and then kicked Tee in the gut as Tee flew through the smoke.  
  
"Taiyoken!!" he shouted making a sun burst so large it blinded anyone in the room.  
  
"AHHHH my eyes!" Ichigo whined. 'That was the same attack he used last night.'  
  
"Ok, that is enough!" Roshi said as he landed. As you can see, I was able to detect your movements and attacks even though I was wearing the blindfold. A Taiyoken, which blinded all of you, would probably not do much to me. Now, I don't expect it to be easy to teach you guys how to do this stuff. My father taught me how to do these sorts of things while I was a child. I didn't realize what they were and did not use my abilities as intended. Earlier this month my father corrected that mistake. You guys on the other hand are going to have to learn it from the beginning starting now. I hope you are ready for hell." Roshi said with a evil looking smile.  
  
* * *  
  
Sorry this took so long. Please put the mouse pointer over the little blue button that reads "Click here to post Review" and then click the mouse button. ;)  
  
Please review!  
  
The Smooster  
  
Oh and then read and review these fics... OR DIE!!!  
  
(or I may just stop posting my fic... WHA HA HA HA HA... er ok.. well just read and review them PLEASE?)  
  
Arthain's The Saiyan war http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=883389  
  
Dracon's To save a Kingdom http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=866651  
  
And Kitsune Maxwell's Glitch http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=630268 


	21. Anger, Pain, and Warm Fuzzy Feelings

Chapter 21

Anger, Pain, and Warm Fuzzy Feelings

Monday, June 16 2:00 p.m.

Tee slowly got back up from getting kicked in the gut.  He slowly brushed his light bluish lavender hair away from his eyes and then finally decided to speak his mind.  "Not that I want to sound overly much like Slip, but could you explain why exactly Boxer's and I need to be here now that you are back?  And secondly, are you sure it is the wisest thing in the world to be training her?"  He asked while pointing at Ichigo.  "It is not as if she is planning on staying here and joining the home team as it were.  She came here and attacked us.  Sure I can accept that that was a simple misunderstanding.  But we are not who she was looking for, why don't we just send her home and be done with this stupid nonsense?"

Ichigo couldn't believe anyone would act as if she were some pest or worse, tourist who could be sent packing.  This entire planet was one unpleasant surprise after another.  But to make matters worse, he actually was blatantly disrespectful and had said that her entire mission was 'Stupid nonsense' right in front of her face!

"What do you mean by stupid nonsense!?!?!"  She shouted at him.  "My mission may have been a failure, but it was the most important thing I have ever done!"

"Your life must have been rather dull then.  Look, no disrespect intended, but I really don't see the point in all of this.  If Buu hadn't left you would have been turned into chocolate or something and we would have never had to deal with you in the first place."  Tee said as he turned to leave the room.

"Kinomi could you show Tee what a Ki Punch feels like for me?"  Roshi said from where he was standing.

Ichigo was so peeved at what Tee had been saying that it took her several moments to realize that Roshi had been talking to her.

"Huh... oh!  Gladly."  She said as she launched herself at Tee.  She decided that a nice blow to the face might knock some sense into him.

Tee had reacted the moment Roshi had told her to attack him, and was flying away from her as fast as he could move.  It didn't help.

"KI PUNCH!!!"  BAAMMMMM!!!!  She socked him in the side of the face and the blow whipped his head around.  The force of the blow caused him to spin in the air as he fell and he landed flat on his back.  A quick check showed that his eyes were rolled up into his head.

"I didn't mean to knock him out." Ichigo said simply as she stood over Tee looking back at Roshi.

"Yes you did, or you wouldn't have use that attack in that manner.  Hitting him in the face was a stunning blow and you knew it."  Roshi said back to her.

"I did n..." Ichigo started habitually arguing.  She was not used to anyone contradicting her.  "...well he deserved it!"  She said in her defense.

Roshi held his hands up in a defensive posture.  "Hey, I'm not disputing that or I wouldn't have told you to use that attack."

"Well You!" She said argumentatively before she realized what he had said.  "You, You, you're not mad at me then?"  

As soon as she said it, Ichigo was mentally kicking herself.  'What do I care if he is mad at me?  It is not like I am a little girl and he is my first master.'

'While I have to respect him for his abilities, he will never be my equal.  I cannot allow myself to forget who he is and what his ancestors did.  He is a tool, nothing more.  Tools are used, they are then discarded.  It matters not at all what he thinks as long as he teaches me what he can teach me before I have to go home and finish my mission.'  She thought to herself.

"I would have rather had you bruise his arm then knock him out, but I should have known better when I told you to hit him."  Roshi said back.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!?!?"  Ichigo shouted at him.

"Your temper is like the ocean's waves.  Rising and falling in never ending cycles."  Roshi said back in an infuriating know it all manner.

"THAT IS IT!  I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR PETTY I AM BETTER THEN YOU DISRESPECT!"  Ichigo screamed at him as she launched herself into the air preparing the most powerful Ki Punch that she could deliver.

"Gravity 250 times earth normal" Roshi said calmly.

"AHHH!"  Ichigo gasped as she fell out of the air and slammed into the ground face first.  She felt a tooth break off as she hit the ground.  Blood welled out of her mouth and onto the floor.  Her entire body hurt.  She could hardly breathe, let alone move.    

Roshi, however, was perfectly fine standing in the alcove of the control tower.  He watched Ichigo struggle to get up for about a minute before he decided that he had sufficiently bruised her pride.  Looking over to Boxers who had retrieved Tee and gone to the alcove while Roshi had been distracting Ichigo earlier, Roshi asked, "Do you think she might calm down a bit now, or should I just let her squirm for a while longer?"

Boxers looked at her then down at Tee who was just starting to come to again.  "Man, you are one mean teacher."  He managed to say.

"Hey just be glad I slipped you that note telling you what I had planned."  Roshi said.  He had given Boxers the note while everyone was blind after his Taiyoken.

"You didn't say anything about letting her knock Tee out!"  Boxers shot back.

"Yeah, well I'm not perfect."  Roshi commented.  He held his hand up to stop any further discussion.

"I am sorry I had to do that to you Kinomi.  But you gave me no choice.  You need to learn to control your anger or you will never be able to learn what I have to teach you.  I know next to nothing about you, but you try to put on airs like you are something special and somehow deserving of our respect.  Well here on Earth, respect is earned.  You have yet to earn it.  From this point on, we are at the very least equals.  You can agree to these terms, or you can go home now having gained nothing but a severely wounded ego and damaged pride."  He called out to her as he lowered the gravity manually back down to normal. 

"Pztt" Ichigo spit out a mouthful of blood as she got up.  "That was low, dishonorable, and crude."

"I know.  And being the honorable people that we are, we would never stoop to doing anything dishonorable now would we?"  Roshi said back.

"You're the one who started it with your stupid Tri-form.  That attack wasn't fair."  She spat back while feeling her face and checking her teeth.

"Honor is not about fairness.  In fact, what is honorable is seldom fair.  Our fight last night broke down to dishonorable actions because in desperation and need.  There is a higher duty then honor of oneself or one's opponent.  Both of us know this.  If you want to complain about things that are beyond your control go find a Kiao to bitch to.  Now, are you going to agree to be more civil and respectful of us, or should Slip get a ship ready for you to go home in?"  Roshi said calmly.

Ichigo just glared at him.

"Go ahead and glare.  You may not like me, and I really don't know what to think of you.  You're arrogant, impulsive, full of yourself, and overly self centered.  You act as though your needs are more important then the needs of everyone else in the universe.  You are everything my family histories say people hated about Vegeta and then some.  I really don't care who you are on your home planet.  You have nothing on me.  If you want to dispute that, I can kick your butt from here all the way back to wherever the planet Saiya is.  Now, the question you need to ask yourself is whether your pride is more important then your mission.  I don't need to like you to be able to teach you what I know.  And I certainly won't miss you once you are gone, but as long as you are here we might as well attempt to get along and teach each other what we know.  That way both of us benefit, and you can go home having learned something rather then just having to return totally empty handed."  Roshi said sternly.

* * *

Tee was bewilderedly watching Roshi.  "Aowww, how hard did she hit me?  One moment Roshi was being all nice and all and now it looks like he is trying to get her to kill him.  I thought Roshi was trying to make friends with her, what on Earth is he doing now?"

"You tell me."  Boxers said back.  "I just know I never want to be hit by one of those attacks.  You're getting one heck of a bruise there."  He said as he pointed at Tee's cheek.

"Great, just great, and I have a date this weekend!"  Tee whined.

"Anyone ever tell you that you sound like a girl when you whine about your dates?"  Boxers shot back.

"No!"  Tee looked at Boxers like he had just grown another head.  "I don't whine!  What do you mean I sound like a girl?"

Boxers put his hands up by his face and started acting as girlish as he could.  "Ohhh noo!!! I have a date on Friday.  Oh my if I have a bruise it will just be the end of it all.  Oh I will never EVER be able to live it down.  I can't possibly go out in public with this HUGE purple bruise on my face."  He said in an exaggerated feminine voice while blinking at Tee.

"Why you should talk!  Remember that time when you were too afraid to ask Rieko out?  You made me ask her for you."  Tee said.

"Oh great defense!  She ended up going out with you cause she thought you were cute when you asked her out for me!"  Boxers shot back.

The bickering between the two of them soon broke down to new levels of stupidity and they quickly forgot about Roshi and Ichigo.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Ichigo saw red.  Actually she wasn't seeing much of anything.  She was furious.  He was a tool.  He was not her equal.  He had no right to be dictating to her or ordering her around.  The impudent bastard even had to lord over her like he was something great and wonderful.

"I will not be dictated to!"  She screamed at him.

"Ah yes the famous pride of a Saiyan.  Feed your pride.  Feed it all you want.  It won't get you anywhere."  Roshi said calmly.

"Shut Up! You stupid jerk."  Ichigo screamed as she once again jumped into the air to fly at Roshi.

Roshi almost casually jumped back into the alcove disrupting the fight between Tee and Boxers.  "Gravity 300 times normal."  He said calmly.

"SHIIITT" SMACK!  Once again Ichigo did a spectacular faceplant.

"You don't learn very fast do you?"  Roshi said from the alcove.

"Aiiieeeee aahhhhhhhh haaaa," was all Ichigo could manage to say.

"You going to calm down and be nice?  Or should I bump it to 350?"  Roshi asked.

"Um Roshi, I don't think she is still conscious anymore.  Boxers said as he looked out at her lying like she was dead.

"Yeah, you're right, her ki just dropped away.  Gravity normal."  He called out.

The three guys slowly walked to where Ichigo had unceremoniously fallen to the floor.

"Um, can I ask you what in the hell you are thinking?  Have you lost your mind?  She was hard enough to work with to begin with.  What are you hoping to gain by doing this?"  Boxers was frantic.  He had missed part of what had been said while he was fighting with Tee, but he was somewhat sure that whatever the heck Roshi was planning it couldn't possibly make his life any easier.

"She needs to realize that the world does not revolve around her.  Until I can break at least part of her pride and ego, she will be impossible to train."  He said back.

"Hey you two, I hate to interrupt, but Roshi you never answered my question.  Just why are you even trying to train her?  And why do you want us to stick around?"  Tee demanded.

"Tee, do you ever worry about anything other then your own simple pleasures?  Is that date you have on Friday really the most important thing you have to do this week?"  Roshi said back.

"Man, I'm sixteen!  What else is there for me to worry about?  I mean, look around!  All of us want for nothing when it comes to stuff that can be bought.  What do you expect me to worry about?  And before you go off on our glorious family history, let me remind you that we have had like 500 years of peace.  She is the worse thing that has ever happened to the Earth since Goku took the dragonballs away, and I doubt that is going to change anytime soon."

"You really are dense.  You just said that your life is a verifiable goal-less waste.  You don't see a problem with that?"  Roshi shot back.

"I think Tee is just afraid of dying."  Boxers interjected.

"What!"  Tee gasped.  "I am not afraid of anything!"

"Then what do you have against doing a little training?  Never heard of no pain no gain?"  Boxers said back.

"I don't have anything against a little training.  It keeps my physic up nicely.  But I still see no point in all this.  It is not like Buu won't be back.  Heck, if your father or Piccolo or Nail had been here, you wouldn't have even had to fight."  Tee said back.

"That is the entire point.  Buu, my dad, Piccolo, and Nail were gone.  So I had to step up.  Who is to say that at some later date I might not be here and you guys will need to step up?  I say we have nothing to loose and everything to gain by learning what we can from her and each other while on the pretense of training her."  Roshi said.

"I agree." Boxers chimed in.

Both of them turned to look at Tee. (picture a big sweatdrop forming on his face.)

"Okay okay, you win.  I'll train heck, should anything ever happen to attack Earth, I even promise to be right there helping you to fight whoever they are."  Tee finally replied.

"Good then it is agreed on."  Roshi said.  "Hey, would one of you two go some ice water, or maybe some smelling salts.  We need to wake her up.

"Ah, I'll go." Boxers said as he ran for the door.

* * * 

A few minutes later, Boxers got back with several liters of cold water, and some smelling salts.  "Which do you want first?"  He asked Roshi.

"Ah lets try the smelling salts.  I have a feeling she will be more receptive to them then she would if she woke up wet and cold."  He replied.

"Yeah.  But wait!"  He said grabbing Roshi's arm as he started to open the bottle.  "What are you going to do when she wakes up?  It is not like she is likely to be real happy."  Boxers asked.

"Yeah, heck if I were her, I would be likely to try to kill you right about now."  Tee chimed in.

Roshi laughed.  "Ha, well, ah that is why you two are here.  To help me hold her down when she freaks and tries to kill us.  Oh, and giving her a Senzu to grow back her teeth may help her to calm down."  He said while pointing at her mangled mouth.

"Ewww no kidding, looks like she almost bit her bottom lip right off."  Tee said.

"That isn't all, look, she's bleeding out of her ears.  Looks like you gave her one hell of a concussion.

"Hmmm, that might not be good.  Giving her brain damage probably won't help her learn this stuff any faster, and she is already way too impatient."

"You can say that again!"  Tee laughed.

"Be ready," Roshi said as he placed the bottle of smelling salts under her nose.

* * *

Ichigo woke gagging on her own blood.  She tried to swallow most of it and spit the rest along with several tooth fragments out all over Roshi who was kneeling over her with a little bottle of the most retched smelling stuff she had ever smelled in her life.

"How are you feeling Kinomi?"  Roshi asked as he set the bottle down.

"Blah yugh.  Kinoni?"  Ichigo said bewilderedly before realizing where she was.  "Whash haffened to nee?"  She managed to say threw her mangled mouth.

"Here swallow this."  Roshi said as he pushed a little green thing into her mouth.

She spit it right back out.  'What is going on?  Where am I?' She thought franticly to herself.  She vaguely remembered being mad, but not at who or why.  She remembered that she had been training.  

"Roasi?  Huat are yoo dooing here?"  She said as she sat up.

"She can't remember! She can't remember you telling her hmmmmght..." Tee started to say before Boxers clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Huuh??"  She asked looking at Roshi bewildered.

"Never mind the idiot.  Here this is a Senzu.  It is what I healed you with last night.  Eat it, it will fix your teeth."  Roshi said comfortingly.

Ichigo was confused.  Her memory over the last few days was hazy.  She remembered passing out after getting the beating of her life.  She remembered Roshi and his house.  She felt she could trust him, but knew not why.  After a careful deliberation and having to swallow several more mouthfuls of blood she decided to trust him.  She took the bean and ate it.

Almost instantly she felt her lips, tongue and nose mend.  Running her tongue over her teeth she found that they were all there.  She couldn't believe it.  She put her hands up to her face and felt her nose and face and teeth.

"How is this possible?  Those types of injures would have taken several hours in a regeneration tank and I would have still had scars to show for my injures.  That thing healed me instantly."  She said in wonderment.

"Yeah, I guess I can say that they are magical.  I couldn't tell you how they work, they just do.  So how are you feeling now?"  Roshi asked.

"Well, I feel great.  We were training right?  I don't really remember.  How did I end up getting knocked out?"  She asked while getting to her feet.

"Ah," Roshi stalled trying to think of something to say.  "Ah, what is the last thing you remember?"

Ichigo paused and thought for a little bit.  Roshi almost started laughing at the way her eyebrows bunched up when she was deep in thought.  "I don't really remember.  I think I was mad about something and I was flying at you to attack.  But I don't remember why I was mad.  Or how I ended up being knocked out."  She admitted.

'Why am I being so honest?  A Saiyan never admits weakness.  Never ever ever!  I'm not even this open with my father.'  She thought to herself. 'I need to get myself back under control.'

The change in her mental resolve was physical.  Her entire body set changed right along with her tone of voice and determination.  "Look, it doesn't matter.  Don't tell me, I don't want to know.  Now are you going to teach me how you can sense people's power-levels or are we just going stand here all day?"

* * *

'Damn I was hoping her sudden change in personality would stick around longer.  I really need to figure out more about her.  I don't even know her military rank.  Heck I don't even know how old she really is.  She seems rather young to be on a mission of the importance that she claims her mission is.  Which tells me that she is someone important, possibly even one of the Royal family.  Which would explain the attitude.  But, as long as she at least treats me with a little respect, I can tolerate her arrogance.' Roshi thought to himself for a moment.

"Well! Are you just going to stare off into space or are you going to say something?"  She demanded.

"Ok, Kinomi, just a second, let me think for a moment."  Roshi said back.

'What have I gotten myself into?'  "Ok, what kind of meditation do you do on Saiya?"  Roshi asked.

"What do you mean meditation?  Do you mean chanting and staring off into space like a religious zealot?  That is a total waste of time."  Ichigo answered.

"Kinomi, what am I going to do with you?"  Roshi said more to space then anyone in the room.  'Why does she always grimace when I say her name?  Oh well, not important. Back to work.'  "Actually, I used to agree with you.  My father spent hours on end just sitting staring off into space.  It was like he had zoned out and tuned into some alternate reality.  But lately, I have come to realize that meditation is if anything even more important then the physical toning one can do in a gravity room such as this one."

"Aww do we have to meditate?  I always fall asleep."  Tee complained over to the side.

Boxers socked him in the gut.

Roshi glared at Tee as if to telepathically project the thought 'YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOU IDIOT' across the room.  "Yes," he said forcefully.  "If you want to learn what I have to teach.  But maybe this is too advanced and difficult for some of you."  He said smirking at Tee.

"Hey! I can do anything that I put my mind to so don't go acting like I'm some dumb idiot just cause of my carefree attitude!"  Tee exclaimed.

"Would you just shut up or do I have to beat you!  I need to learn this stuff!"  Ichigo yelled at back at Tee.

Tee put his hands up, "shutting up!  Shutting up!"

'She certainly has a way with Tee.  I we will be able to tease him for ages after she goes back to Saiya' Roshi thought with a smile.

"Ok then let's get started."  Roshi commanded.  "Now, what you need to do is first I think we should work on the simple stuff, just lowering your ki.  Now to do this, I need each of you to spread out near the walls someplace in this room.  Then I want you to sit down and clear your mind.  Think about your heartrate, or a pleasant memory.  But don't fall into a daydream.  Once your pulse has slowed and you have calmed open your focus out.  Listen and hear without thought.  Don't think or ponder just absorb the information coming to you.  Feel the air move around you." Roshi stopped to take a breath and look at his three students. 

"When you do this you should be able to start sensing the energy coming from me.  I will try to keep my ki rather high.  Now, like my father did for me, I will do for you.  If you loose your concentration and raise your ki, I will shoot you with a ki blast.  If you can get out of the way good for you, if not, you will be sore for a while.  If you don't learn, you may be sore for a long while."  He finished with a warning.

Boxers looked thoughtful for a few moments.  "So your saying that no mater how bad you beat us up while we are doing this, you won't be giving us a Senzu?"

"Ah right, we only have three left this season.  Korin said he will have more for us in a few weeks but right now all we have are these three, so I would like to save them for emergencies."  Roshi said.

"Hey what makes her so special that you gave her one just for having a bloody lip?"  Tee asked.

"Tee, do you have any idea how long it takes one of Bulma's old regeneration tanks to grow back teeth?  It would have taken several days.  It was easier this way.  Besides, I am not going to hit you with anything real strong so don't worry so much.  I am beginning to thing you really are afraid of pain."  Roshi taunted.

"Hey!"  Tee yelled, "that was a cheep shot!"

"Yes it was, now get over there and get meditating."  Roshi commanded.

"Fine I will!"  Tee shot back sullenly before turning and walking to the wall.

* * *

Ichigo was not the happiest person in the world.  She didn't quite know what to make of Roshi.  Or for that matter what to make of Slip or Boxers.  Tee she figured was a born idiot and could be ignored as such.  He showed no talent for either brains or fighting.  Boxers seemed to be rash and jumpy, but he at least thought things out.  Slip was... well, Slip was a scientist.  But Roshi, Roshi was a conundrum.

'I don't get him.  I know I was furious at him before I got knocked out.  I just don't remember why.  He rips off my tail' She shuddered involuntarily, 'he belittles me, he overpowers me.  But in all that he does he seems to be the most respectful of the group even while purposely being disrespectful.  He alone seems to understand my responsibility and he alone seems to want to help me.  But WHY?  What does he have to gain?  He must have some nefarious reason for helping me.  No one would just teach someone, who has every reason to kill them, new attacks.  It just doesn't make any sense.  I have every reason to want him dead.  I really don't like his attitude or personality and the only reason I don't try to kill him is that I know he is stronger then I am.  Which is another thing, where and how did he get that strength from?  This meditating is to me a waste of time, but so much of what I have seen here is unexplainable and new.  Is he really teaching me anything at all? I know I wouldn't be if I were him.  Maybe this is just a trick to get me to lower my guard so he can attack me.  Should I really trust him?'  She thought to herself in silence.

Several minutes pass and Ichigo is still thinking about her problems and has yet to even try to meditate.

"Kinomi?"  Roshi said from right behind her causing her to jump several feet into the air in shock.

"AHH!  DON'T DO THAT!!!"  She yelled while trying to catch her breath.

"You two keep trying to keep your ki down," Roshi said to Tee and Boxers who had jumped up when Ichigo screamed.

"Now, what is your problem?  You were so deep into thought that you didn't even hear me coming over here."

"I was thinking.  And I am used to having my scouter beep and tell me people are sneaking up on me!" She said in her defense.

"Speaking of which, take it off, it messes up your hearing with that thing covering your ear."

Ichigo thought for a moment and then took it off and placed it on the ground a few feet from where she had been sitting. "That ok?"  She demanded.

"Sure, now I just want to know why you were not trying to meditate.  You can't learn anything unless you do what I say."  Roshi commented.

"Ah, I know, it is just that..."

"You don't trust me."  Roshi said cutting her off.

'Damn him for being so smart.  If he proves to be telepathic I'll just have one more reason to kill him.'

Roshi started to chuckle.

"What?! What are you laughing at?!?!"  Ichigo said in surprise.

"Oh, nothing, just well, ah, your face.  You scrunch up your eyebrows funny when you think."

"AH I..." She gasped.  "How dare you laugh at me?"

"Look, sorry, now could you please try to trust me and at least try to meditate?  Look at it this way, if I wanted to kill you, why did I give you two Senzu beans?  You can trust me.  The only thing you have to loose bye doing what I say is that stupid scouter."  He said pointing at her scouter.

'He has a point.  Why does he have to be right?  Jerk.'  "Fine, just leave me alone so I can calm down and do this stupid meditation."  She shot back.

Roshi shrugged and then turned around and walked away.

'AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I AM SOOOOO GOING TO KICK HIS ASS!!!!!  DROP him down a peg or two on the I'm sooo very full of my abilities scale.  JERK!!!!'

Ichigo took several deep breaths to try to calm down.  'So Jerk wants us to focus on a happy memory.  Ok I can do that.  I'll just think about what his face looked like when I kicked him in the groin last night.'

Ichigo was happy to realize that she had a very very clear recollection of that moment.  Not much right after or from earlier when she had been knocked out, but she had perfect recollection of THAT moment.  The problem was remembering that fight made her antsier rather then helping her to calm down.

"ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!" She yelled out in frustration.  'This is NEVER going to work!'

* * *

Meanwhile elsewhere in the room, Tee had fallen asleep just like he said he would.  Roshi didn't catch on until Tee slouched over and flopped onto his side.

"Ssnnzzzzuughhh," Tee peacefully snored away.

'I should drop kick him so he lands on Kinomi' Roshi thought to himself.  'No, on second thought, having Kinomi kill him won't make my day any easier.  Kami what did I do to deserve this?'  He thought while looking up at the ceiling.

'First I save the planet from a rampaging girl who really isn't all that bad and probably didn't want to kill anyone but me anyway.  Then I get grounded for my efforts.  Mom will never understand.  Then I have Slip complaining:  "Do you have any IDEA how much This will COST to fix!!!!??"  she had said.  WHY OH WHY can't I have a NORMAL boring life like everyone else on the planet???' (AN:  Anyone get why this is so very cynical of Roshi?)

"Tee wake up and concentrate."  He said while shaking Tee awake.  "I said not to daydream.  Focus and you won't fall asleep."

"Yawn, Huh?  I fell asleep?  Sorry man.  I'll keep trying."  Tee said drowsily.

'Right, you'll fall right back to sleep the moment I leave.'  "Sure, ok but first I have a task for you."

"Huh?  Ah Okay.  What do you want me to do?"

"Not get hit by my Energy Dan."  Roshi said as he jumped up and away from Tee.  "YAAAAHHHHHH" He yelled out starting to rapid fire a bunch of very small ki blasts.

"AHHHHHHH" The look on Tee's face was priceless.  He jumped right up and slammed his head into the ceiling. 

THUD!!  "OUCH!"

"Good!  They all missed you!"  Roshi called out knowing full well that he had not actually been aiming at Tee.  "Next time I won't wake you up first."  He said as he turned around to walk away.

'That might help him focus a bit.' He thought as he walked past Boxers.  'Hmmm, Boxers may actually be getting it.  His ki rose slightly while I was picking on Tee, but not much.'  He caught Ichigo glance at him.  'I just wish Kinomi would be easier to get through to.  She is not going to stay patient and easy to work with very long.'

* * *

Ichigo had just started to get calmed down and focused when she heard  Roshi attack Tee.

'I wonder what the moron did wrong?' She pondered that for a moment before sighing, 'not like it really matters.  I doubt I will get anything out off all this nonsense anyway.'  

Even with her negative mindset however, her conscience and pride were telling her that a Saiyan never gives up on any task and that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the meditation.

Slowly but surely Ichigo started to draw her thoughts together and focus on meditating.

'AAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH THIS ISN'T WORKING'

Ichigo continued to fume.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Kiao-shin's planet.

Ok, that is enough fun for today Buu."  Goku said cheerfully.

"Ahh, Buu like fighting you, you strong.  Please more fight?"

"Nah, not right now, I have some stuff I need to do ok?"  Goku said back.

"Ok, Buu go get food.  You come with?"

"No, not right now, maybe in a bit" Goku said as he waved Buu off.

"You not hurt are you?  You not acting normal."  Buu stated.

"Oh, no I am fine, I just have some stuff I need to do, that is all I promise!"  Goku said back even thought he was extremely tempted to go eat.

"Ok, I guess you okay.  Me go get food." Buu said as he turned and flew away.

Goku flew up to his spot.  It was his favorite spot on all of Kiaoshin, because from here he could see very easily everything that was happening on Earth.  Goku enjoyed his newfound life with they Kiaos, but he did miss his days on Earth.

He watched Roshi trying to train Ichigo and the two boys for a while.

'Hmmm, Roshi is a smart kid.  He really reminds me of Gohan only just as focused on his training as the books.  I always wondered how strong Gohan would have been had he never stopped training.  Kiaoshin claims that his mystic form was as strong as he could go, but I am willing to bet he could have gone even stronger had he tried.'

"Sigh," 'I miss Chichi and Gohan and Goten.  Maybe I should go visit them in heaven.'

Goku brushed his thoughts aside and focused in on what was happening on Earth.  'How is she ever going to figure it out if she doesn't calm down?'  He thought to himself.  

Goku suddenly got an idea.  "I Know!" he said with a big smile.

* * * 

Ichigo was getting flustered.  She just could not force herself to relax and meditate.  Every time she got close to doing what Roshi had told them to do, her mind stated telling her how pointless all this was.

'I'm never going to get this.  I might as well give up on this stupid sensing idea and just try to learn his attacks.  That one where he blinds people is pretty good, and then there is that Kamehameha thing.'

"HEY ICHIGO" A voice called out to her in her mind interrupting her thoughts.

'What?'  She casually looked around the room.  'Who said that?'

"I did.  It is I, Goku.  Remember you talked to me in your dream."

'...'

"Come on, you don't remember?"

'.......I have to be hallucinating...'

"Hey, that hurts.  You are fine and you know it.  Now you need some help, so I am going to talk you through these meditations.  Ok first you need to..." Goku started to explain more in depth what she needed to do to focus and actually start meditating.

"Ok, now focus on your ki.  Center it in the middle of your body, right at your stomach."

Ichigo did what he said.  She could feel her ki moving into a nice small little ball right above her stomach.

"It should feel warm.  Now, take a very deep breath and very very slowly exhale.  Let your energy flow out as you exhale to the tips of your fingers and toes.  You should get a nice warm fuzzy feeling."

Ichigo almost broke her concentration.  To have a person who she had been told was the greatest Saiyan warrior ever just tell her to expect a _Warm Fuzzy Feeling?  'What kind of warrior talks about warm fuzzy feelings?'_

"Me, that kind, now trust me, if you do it right you will get a warm fuzzy feeling that tingles all through your body."  Goku spoke to her mind.

Something in the back of her mind was nagging at her that having some strange guy reading her mind and talking to her was not a good thing.  But, she decided that since she couldn't do anything about it, she might as well accept it and do what he said.

Ichigo relaxed and slowly exhaled.  As she exhaled she really did feel her ki tingle throughout her arms and legs.  It felt really really weird to say the least.

"Good, now clear your mind.  Stop questioning, stop thinking.  FEEL and react without thought."

'Huh?'

"I told you to stop questioning me.  Just follow my instructions.  Empty your mind.  Open your senses.  Let your ki flow freely to where it is needed.  Open your mind to everything your senses detect."

Goku continued to talk to Ichigo for several more minutes.  Then he left her to her meditation and went to catch up with Buu for some food.

* * *

Roshi slowly walked around the room.  It had been several hours since he had had them start meditating.

'I have to admit it, I am surprised.  Once she calmed down and focused she dropped her ki like a rock and it has not gone up since.  Heck I could only hold my ki down for four hours earlier this summer, and I don't think I kept it nearly as stable.'

Roshi stopped his thoughts long enough to send another small ki shot at Tee.  It was only powerful enough to be felt as a tap, but it sent all the message it needed to.  Tee's ki spiked for a moment, and then dropped back down.

'Tee is doing about as well as expected, but at least Boxers seems to be getting it.  I only had to send a few ki shots at him.'

Roshi looked at his watch.  'Hmmm 5:30, time to let them eat, I have to get home or my mom will kill me.'

"Okay guys.  You did very well for the first time, but it is time to eat.  I'll have to head home in a bit, but I want you to all know I am proud of how you did today.  One we have eaten, you are free to do whatever you want.  But I would suggest doing some more meditation.  Oh, and Kinomi," He said as he turned to look right at Ichigo, "I don't want you to wear that Scouter anymore.  Here, take this ear mic communicator."  He said as he gave her a little silver microphone and earpiece. "It won't interrupt your sense of hearing quite so much, and will still let me talk to you.  You are free to stay at the guest house, but I want to know were you are going if you leave Capsule Corp."

"Why?  You afraid I might run away and start killing people?"  She tersely said back.

"No, but I do what to be able to know were you are at just in case."  He replied with a chuckle.

Ichigo glared at him.  "Whatever."

"Oh, and no one is to use the Gravity room tonight. If you don't rest you won't get maximum benefit from the training we are doing.  Is that Clear?"  He finished with a tone of authority.

"No problem" Tee said right away.

"Sure."  Boxers chimed in.

"I guess," Ichigo finally said.

"Ok, good.  Well I have to get moving, see you guys tomorrow.  Kinomi the food is probably better here, but if you want to come back with me now you may."

"I think I need some time alone.  I will come back later this evening."  Ichigo said back.

"Ok, later!"  Roshi said as he ran out the door.

* * *

This chapter is dedicated to Jimbo.  Thanks for being the first to tell me about the html thing.  Thank you to all the people who emailed me with your suggestions.

Anyway, I realize that we are now into the section of the fic where most of my previous reviews had come from.  A lot of you have already reviewed the original versions of these chapters.  Those of you who have not, however, I would still love to hear your opinions of the revisions.  Especially on chapters like 20 that actually changed.

(this chapter only had about a paragraph added and then a few lines changed.)

Anyway, Thanks for all your patience and support during these revisions.  

The Smooster


	22. Who are you again!

AN: Sorry this took so long. There is some fairly heavy stuff in this chapter, please note I have upped the rating to R   
  
Once again thanks to all of you who read AND take the time to review. Everyone of your reviews means something to me.  
  
  
Chapter 22 Who are you again?!?!?!  
Monday about 5:30 PM  
  
Ichigo watched Roshi run out the door. For the first time since her father sent her on this mission, she was starting to feel a sense of hope.  
  
Then like usual her doubt caught up with her. 'I know that this is all pointless. By know most of my people are dead and even if Roshi teaches me everything he knows it won't help me when I return home. I am as good as dead. Not only am I as good as dead, but I am also a coward. If I were a real Saiyan, I would have gone back home the moment that Banana told me my father was dead. I am a coward and nothing I can do will change that. Changelings have a power level of 400 to 700 thousand. I was so happy to reach 70,000. 70,000 is a high level for my people, but it is pathetic compared to the changelings. To top it off, now without my tail, I can't even go Ouzaru so my chances of beating the Changelings off and saving my people are doomed.'   
  
While she was tempted to let despair rule her thoughts for a few moments, Ichigo was not one to loose herself in despair however, and she began mentally arguing with her own doubts and fears.  
  
'STOP! I can't doubt myself. I may have lost my tail, and I may not have been able to find the Super Saiyans of myth, but I did find the Vegeta Saiyans.'  
  
'Big deal. All the normal Saiyans in the universe are not going to be able to help me.'  
  
'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I am not going to give up. I have come too far to just whimper away and start doubting myself now.'  
  
'Hope is the crutch of the weak. You can hope all you want it won't change the fact that you're delusional.'  
  
"I cannot give up, everyone is depending on me." She said aloud to enforce the thought.  
  
"What'd you say?" Tee said from over by Boxers.  
  
"Nothing concerning you, just thinking out loud." She shot back.  
  
"Sheesh bite my head of will ya? I was just asking a question." Tee replied.  
  
"Leave me alone, I need to think." Ichigo said back.  
  
"Fine, I'm going to go eat. See you around Boxers." Tee said as he walked out the door.  
  
"Hey, wait up! I'm coming to eat too!" Boxers called back. "You coming, or are you just going to sit here and starve?"  
  
Ichigo pondered for a moment. "I think I need some time alone to think for a while."  
  
Both Boxers and Tee gawked at her for a few moments. 'And she claims we don't act like Saiyans?' Boxers pondered to himself.   
  
"Ok, if you say so. See you later." He said.  
  
"Wait! Show me how to get out of this maze of a building." Ichigo commanded.  
  
"Sure thing, just make sure you tell Roshi that you are leaving." Boxers said as he waved her forward.  
  
"What, you afraid of him or something?" She said back mockingly.  
  
"Ah, no, but then maybe you should be." He said back cocking an eyebrow at her.  
  
Ichigo glared at him. She dropped her voice and fiercely spat back. "A REAL WARRIOR IS NOT AFRAID OF ANYTHING! If you want to question me, then you had better be able to back those words with ability. Roshi has proven to be a an able fighter, but NONE of you have a clue what it means to be a warrior!" She screamed at him while forming a ki ball in her right hand.  
  
"Hey now calm down! Can't you take a simple joke? I was just teasing." Boxers said defensively.  
  
"I fail to find the humor." Ichigo said flatly.  
  
"Ah, yeah" Boxers said hesitantly as he turned around to lead her out of the complex.  
  
* * *   
  
Ichigo turned her scouter on. 'Now which way to my ship?' she thought to herself as she slowly turned in the air above the Capsule Corporation.   
  
Beep beep beep! The scouter rang out as it picked up a high ki level moving away from her location. 'That must be Roshi' she thought to herself as the scouter fluctuated from 25,000 to 60,000 never settling on a set number.  
  
Ichigo glared at the power level reading for several moments. 'I wonder just how powerful the jerk really is.'  
  
Ichigo grimaced remembering the fight from the previous night. 'Mark my words Roshi, I will beat you before I leave.' She thought before turning and flying off in the direction her scouter had said her ship was in.  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi stopped in midair. He could sense the girl leaving the Capsule Corp. He waited several moments. "Guess she just doesn't want me to trust her" he said out loud shaking his head slowly in disgust when she didn't tell him where she was going.  
  
"Damn it!" he cursed into the wind. "If I don't go home, mom will kill me and I will be lucky if I ever get out of the house again. At the same time I am responsible for letting Kinomi live. She has yet to show that she is actually trust worthy, and I can't just let her go off by herself."  
  
Roshi thought for several minutes. "Guess that means I follow her and accept my punishment later, not like I ever had any choice in the matter." He said to himself aloud to finalize his decision.  
  
Roshi took off to follow her. However, after just a few moments, he slowed way down. 'I had better go slowly, I told her to get rid of the scouter, but if she has it, it will detect me if I am not careful.'  
  
"Kintoun!" He called out to the little yellow cloud.  
  
The Kintoun soon reached him and he set out once again.  
* * *  
  
"DAMN IT!!! Where is it?!?!?!" Ichigo screamed while throwing wreckage around. "I have to find it. I can't believe I forgot about it. Oh how could I be so careless?"   
  
'Careless, like when I stupidly let the jerk rip my tail off? Careless like when I let him beat me and dishonor me in combat?' Her doubts ripped into her as she franticly searched through the rubble of her ship.  
  
'Ha, some ruler I would make. I run away when I should have stayed and died with my people. Then, I can't even keep my own tail and now I first forget about and then loose my mother's pendent. Who am I kidding, even if it is the proof of royalty, by the time I get home there won't be anyone left to rule.'  
  
Ichigo sat in the middle of her ruined ship and like any sixteen-year-old girl faced with the overly harsh realities of the world, she broke down and started to cry. 'Damn it! I can't do anything right. WARRIORS DON'T CRY!!' She screamed at herself mentally.  
  
A tattered picture of her mother suddenly blew past her in the wind. She grabbed it and looked at it for a few moments.  
  
"Sometimes all that remains are tears." She said repeating something that Momo had said after her mother's funeral. "In those times the dam's must break, or the pain won't be washed away."  
  
Ichigo hugged herself and leaned back on a ruined bulkhead. 'I wish Momo or my father were here.' She thought to herself as tears once again welled in her eyes.  
  
* * *  
  
Miles away, Roshi was starting to get suspicious. 'She's been at her ship for a long time now. I wonder what she is doing.'  
  
While he didn't feel comfortable actually spying on her, he turned his earpiece on and opened the link to the one he had given her.  
  
Nothing had prepared him to hear muffled sobs and whimpering cries.  
  
'What on earth is going on? There is no one there, why is she crying?' Then another thought caught up with him. 'If she ever learns that I heard her crying for whatever reason she will probably take it just as bad as loosing her tail. She puts so much stake in her tough girl act that any little show of weakness is almost a criminal offense.'  
  
Roshi turned the link off. 'Well, I think I need to go talk to Kami for a bit. I have not seen him in along time, but now seems like a good time to ask my questions. Like, where the hell did Buu go?'  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile on an approach vector with Earth, "Sir, we have detected wreckage with a functioning transponder that matches the Princess's ship." Mango reported to Banana.  
  
Banana cracked his knuckles. "Wonderful." He smiled evilly. "So the little bitch crashed on this pathetic planet and now cannot escape. Oh how the Gods have smiled on us today men!" He yelled to the five other Saiyans on board.  
  
"I do think that this is a wonderful place to start your reign as King sire," Kiwi said.  
  
"Yes, I do say so myself. Pineapple, you have scanned the planet. Did the bitch survive the crash? Will we get to have some fun with her, or will I just have to settle for killing the populace of the world?"  
  
"Ah yes sir, er I have found a power level of 26,000 near the crash site sir. It is close enough to her level when she left Saiya that I believe it to be her sir!"  
  
"Ahhhhh wonderful, and are there any other threats on this world?"  
  
"They appear to be technologically advanced with warp capable ships. However, our approach seems to be undetected. I have found 3 power levels of between 10,000 and 20,000. All other levels are far below that." Pineapple reported.  
  
"Since not even the pretender King knew our real strength this should be a simple battle sir, all of us are stronger then the girl." Papaya stated from the back.  
  
"Excellent. Set us down one hours flight time away from her. If her scouter has been damaged I want to take her by surprise. Otherwise we will act the rescue party until the time is right to dispose of her."  
  
"Aye sir!" Durian said from the pilots seat.  
  
* * *  
  
When Roshi got to the sanctuary, Mr. Popo informed him that Kami had detected dire time was meditating on the problem. He would therefore not be available for several hours. Roshi had agreed to meditate in a separate room until he could speak with Kami.  
  
* * *  
  
Ichigo had cried herself to sleep. After the fight, the shortened night, and the training all afternoon, she was exhausted.  
  
BEEP BEEEP BEEEEP! Her scouter woke her up. Ichigo pulled the communicator Roshi had given her back out of her ear and stuck it in her pants pocket. She then put her scouter back on.  
  
"YAWN, Six power levels approaching rapidly. The highest is 54,560. Then there are two in the 40,000s and three in the 30,000s. It can't be Roshi and his cousins they would be coming from another direction. I wonder who they are and why they are coming right at me." She said aloud while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  
  
'Guess I might as well find out.' She thought as she took off to fly in the direction of the oncoming powers.  
* * *  
  
'What the heck?' Ichigo thought to herself as she flew up to where the six warriors had landed.  
  
"Princess Ichigo is that you? Where did you get such ridiculous clothes?  
  
"Captain Banana? Is that you? I will ignore your comments, when there is nothing else to wear, I wear what I can."  
  
Banana bowed into a kneel and replied. "Yes my princess. I am sorry for misspeaking."  
  
Ichigo could have sworn she saw him smirk when he said that. "Why are you here?" She demanded.  
  
"We, Myself and my men here came searching for you my princess. We needed to find you." Banana replied.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"So you could lead us my princess."  
  
Ichigo looked at the men. Other then Captain Banana, she did not know any of them. Their being here was unsettling and she did not know why. She decided to try to calm her nerves using the technique that Roshi and the dream man had taught her earlier in the day.  
  
"Haaaaahhhh" She let out a long breath. "How goes the fight on Saiya? Can we beat back the Changelings?"  
  
"The fight was over the by the time you disappeared. Blizzard attacked and then left. There is no more threat you ran from nothing, you need not continue this goose chase for the imaginary Super Saiyan." Banana said calmly.  
  
"My father is dead?"  
  
"Yes, Ichigo Kudamono you will be queen when we return home."  
  
"Then my first order is for you to go back and prepare for my coronation. My father's last orders were for me to find the Super Saiyans, I may not be able to find them, but there is much for me to learn here. I will return home shortly." Ichigo said sternly.  
  
One of the men snorted a laugh.  
  
"What do you think is so funny?" Ichigo demanded.  
  
"You are." The squat man said back.  
  
"Who are you and how dare you speak to me in such a manner!?" She screamed into his grimy face.  
  
"I am warrior elite class Durian. We followed your power level as you came here. It is only 46,200. Pathetic. You ran when your father died fighting and now you seek to order us around?!" The man spat back.  
  
The man's treasonous comment and a high pitched beep from her scouter both warned Ichigo of the impending attack. Moreover she sensed a change in the posture of the six men.  
  
Surrounded, outnumbered, and out-massed, She did all that she could do; she leapt straight into the air.  
  
WHAM!! Banana caught her slamming a double-handed fist into her head, she was thrown back to the ground.  
  
Even before she had hit the ground she was reacting trying to find a weakness to exploit.  
  
She hit the ground with a hollow sounding thud and sprung away from the point of impact.  
  
WHACK!! A knee landed in the middle of her back slamming her once again into the ground.  
  
Ten pairs of hands grabbed her and pinned her flat on her back to the ground.  
  
Banana stood over her looking down at her like she was a chunk of spoiled meat at a banquet.  
  
"What is the meaning of this!?!?!" She demanded.  
  
"Ho ho ho, you have got to be joking. You should know well enough what this is about. You Princess are not fit to lead us. Your entire family is a disgrace to the Saiyan race. Weak and pathetic. You fail us by your very existence. Your father failed us when he failed to sire a worthy son to lead us. He failed again when he refused to remarry after your harlot of a mother died. To make matters worse, he sends you away to PROTECT you while we the loyal warriors died by the thousand." Banana spat at her.  
  
"How dare you!" Ichigo screamed up at him.  
  
"How dare I? How dare I? Tell me little girl what do you know of our ancient laws? Your family ruled because it was the strongest. Once before your pathetic waste of a family were challenged for the right to rule us. The VEGETA family were branded traitors and exiled. They should have been Kings but your petty worthless ancestors caused them to war with themselves and they were finally forced into SLAVERY to Cold and his sons. By the ancient laws, I declare myself KING. You are my slave. Unlike your stupid father I have struck a deal with Blizzard. When I return to Saiya with proof of your death, MY kingdom will be backed by the might of the Changelings."  
  
"I will kill you for that you traitor!!" Ichigo said before Banana kicked her in the side of the mouth to shut her up.  
  
Banana suddenly started laughing uncontrollably. "I have just realized something. You aren't even worthy to be called a Saiyan! Where is your tail bitch?!"  
  
Ichigo could only glared up at him in mute protest.  
  
"Roll her over and hold her down!" Banana directed.  
  
She was forced onto her stomach and had her face slammed into the ground and rubbed in the dirt. Then she felt hands grabbing her belt.  
  
"RAAAAAAAAHHHH" Riiiippppppppp For a few moments before the fabric gave way it felt like he was trying to rip her in half. Then her belt and the seams of her pants gave way. He ripped the cloth off of her revealing her mid-thigh length shorts.  
  
Banana pulled her shorts down far enough to reveal the cauterized wound.   
  
"You actually let yourself be docked? You are even more pathetic then I could have imagined! And they even cauterized the wound so you can't grow it back! You aren't even worth my time to kill all I have to do is take the record of this back to Blizzard and it will disgrace your family forever!!!"  
  
Ichigo could have died right then and there. Nothing was worth this kind of humiliation. Banana was laughing his foolish head off and all she could do was squirm. She knew she could beat any one or possibly two of these men, but with five of them holding her down she didn't stand a chance. Ichigo was very busy examining her options when something bounced off her head.  
  
"Roll her over I want to see the fear in her eyes while I talk to her!" She heard Banana say.  
  
The next thing she knew he was holding something silver in front of her.  
  
"What is this? Some sort of communicator? Who are you trying to communicate with? Should we hurry your death? Do you have friends coming?" Banana demanded. With each question he kicked her in the ribs.  
  
"AAAAHHHH" Ichigo gasped for air. "Just kill me now and get it over with!" She screamed at him.  
  
He laughed. "Oh no, we can't do that. We scanned this planet, there is no one here who would even be a challenge to us." He said as he bent down over her. He slowly caressed one of her thighs Running his hand up to her groin. "Besides, I think we can find something much more fun then just killing you. Right men?" He finished. Her entire body involuntarily shuddered.  
  
"Over my dead body!" She screamed.  
  
"Himgh, that can be arranged." He smirked. "But first let's stop anyone from listening in." He said as he crushed the communicator in his other hand.  
  
He then pulled out his warrior's dagger. It was a large 20cm long vibrodager. With its composite diamond-filament titanium-carbide blade that vibrated at ultrasonic speeds, that dagger could cut through Ichigo's flesh like butter.  
  
Holding the dagger in front of Ichigo's widening eyes he laughed. "I want to hear you scream. Then I'm going to have my pleasures with you, and then we are going to carve you piece by pretty little piece."  
  
'I can't let him win. He's going to kill me, but I'm not going to let him win. I'll not scream I'll never give him the pleasure.' Ichigo thought as she watched him bring the dagger's point down on her forehead.  
  
Banana used the dagger as a surgeon would use a scalpel. He barely cut the skin, but traced a line down the center of her forehead down the bridge of her nose over its tip and then down to her lips. A small trickle of blood ran down the bridge of her nose and pooled into her left eye. Ichigo ignored the burning pain. She stared straight forward, unblinking, unfeeling, and unseeing.   
  
Banana traced his line over her lips and down her chin. He didn't even pause as the blade sliced through the softer skin of her neck. When he got to the neckline of her gi, he did pause. He glared into her eyes. "I want to hear you whimper girl. Beg for my mercy."  
  
"Never!" Ichigo said back before spitting into his face. 'Why didn't I learn a breath blast attack? Or Eye lasers? I can't even shoot a ki blast with my hands planted in the ground. I can't let him win. I will never scream. NEVER!'   
  
Seeing the determination in her eyes Banana trust the dagger into the ground next to her and cupped her right breast savagely as he bent down to lick the blood seeping from her neck and face. He leered at her and then savagely kissed her with his bloody lips.  
  
Ichigo tried to bite him, but he was too fast. He pulled away and only received a face full of bloody spit. Grinning down at her he grabbed the dagger and savagely cut her gi off of her. Discarding the shredded cloth to the side, he leered down at her as if examining her for the smallest physical flaw.  
  
"For a worthless piece of garbage, you are not bad looking. I think I am going to have some fun." He declared matter-o-factly as he started tracing his finger down her bra strap and then roughly cupped her left breast.  
  
It hurt. Oh how it hurt, but Ichigo wasn't going to let him win. She clenched her jaw and stared at the sky.  
  
"Someone hold her head up. I want her to watch." Banana ordered as he once again picked up the dagger and started cutting her. He traced continued to trace his line down the center of her body. Amazingly he didn't cut her bra off of her but mentioned leaving that for later.  
  
Ichigo didn't scream.  
  
"She's being a tough little bitch isn't she?" He asked as he kneeled down to lick her stomach starting right above her shorts and traveling up. His mouth moved to hover over her right breast as he slowly pulled the strap off of her right shoulder. Yanking the cup of her bra down he traced his tongue around her nipple.  
  
Ichigo shuddered. She couldn't help it. 'I won't let him win, I won't let him win I won't let him win.' Ichigo repeated to herself over and over again as a mantra. Suddenly twisting in the men's grasp, she jerked to the side and managed to slam her shoulder into Banana's face. Following through, she almost broke her right arm free of the hands that were holding it down, but she was violently smashed back down into the ground before she could rip her way free.  
  
"AAHHH AHHHH" She couldn't help but gasp in pain as Banana grabbed his dagger and thrust it deep into her right breast. It felt like a searing pain plunging into her. She felt skin and tissue part. Then it sliced into the muscles and finally jarred to a stop against her ribs.  
  
"You like that do you? Just wait when we are done with you you're going to wish you had died at birth." She heard Banana say mockingly as he squeezed her chest forcing blood to flow more rapidly.  
  
Crack!  
  
Almost as if observing from the outside without feeling, she realized that Banana had just broken her jaw when she hadn't screamed. If only she had learned the eye lasers, or mouth attacks. 'If only... If only...' She felt hands once again running up her inner thighs. She shuddered and retreated further into her mind. 'This isn't happening, not to me, not now. I won't let him win. I won't let him win. I won't let him win.'  
  
"Get those shorts off of her. Let's have some real fun!" She heard one of them say.  
  
"Yeah, let's bring some real fun video back to Saiya!" Another one commented.   
  
Ichigo no longer cared. If they didn't she would kill herself as soon as she could.   
  
"No, not yet, I'm not done with this part of her yet"  
  
Ichigo cracked. Or at least her resolve did. She had never in her life actually been afraid. During her fight with Roshi she was afraid of failure. But this was different. Never before had she ever feared for herself. Never before had she been thrust into a situation where she had no control what so ever. She withdrew into a small corner of her mind she had never been before. Pure uncutable terror gripped her. She wouldn't, couldn't even scream out in indignant protest or pain. Her voice had left her. Time stopped and an eternity of anguish and personal hatred, fear and loathing set in.  
  
* * *  
  
Roshi had fallen asleep. After only getting a few hours of sleep the night before and then trying to train the girl and his cousins, he was exhausted. In the peaceful serenity of the Sanctuary, it had only taken him a few minutes to fall into a peaceful slumber. He was suddenly woken back into reality by Mr. Popo.  
  
"I am sorry, but Kami has said that you are needed to go back down to the surface now." Mr. Popo said.  
  
"Huh? What do you mean?" He asked.  
  
"Open your senses Roshi" a voice said from behind him.   
  
He whipped around to see Dende, standing behind him. "Um, ok..." he replied. He did not need to ask why once he had. He immediately felt six large ki's moving towards the girl he knew as Kinomi.  
  
"Thank you, I have to go." Is all he said before he ran to the edge and jumped off falling to the level were the Kintoun could catch him.  
  
Turning on his communicator he called Slip. "Slip you got the GKSS running yet?"  
  
"No! Why you loose your stupid barbarian woman?" Slip replied crassly over the link.  
  
"Um no, but I think you had better get it running soon. Oh, and get Boxers and Tee found, I will need there help tonight. This isn't a joke just DO it ok no questions just get Boxers and Tee and get the GKSS running and do it now!" He said quickly before breaking the link.  
  
Slip grumbled for a bit and then got up and sent an email message to Tee and Boxers to go find Roshi. She then went back to sorting out her lab.  
  
Roshi had broken the link and started listening to whatever Ichigo's was picking up.  
  
'Princess Ichigo??? Did I hear that right? She is responding to it... So her real name is Ichigo Kudamono and she is the Royal princess Oh does she have some explaining to do when I catch up with her' Roshi thought as he spurred the Kintoun on.  
  
When they turned on her and labeled one of them the true king, it surprised him, but not totally. He seemed to recall that being one of the few things Vegeta had reportedly said about Saiyan law. The cowardly way they ganged up on her made him mad, however, and it spurred him on that much faster.  
  
When they hinted at rape and worse before breaking the communicator Roshi was infuriated. He didn't care for Princess Lying Ichigo. But just the thought of anyone doing that repulsed him. As his anger grew so did his power.  
  
Nothing, however, prepared him for what he saw when he got within eyesight of the group. They were just starting to pull down her shorts, this was enough to spur him to faster movement. But, what they had done to the rest of her formerly beautiful body was revolting. A large wound in her chest bled freely. A cut neatly bisected her from forehead to lower stomach, and multiple bruises were already starting to form.  
  
Roshi was utterly disgusted. He wouldn't wish such horrific abuse on his worst enemy. No one disserved to go through what she had just experienced. He released his anger and slammed into the one who appeared to be the strongest of the group. After hitting the ground he dug a good forty-foot trench with the man's back before jumping off and turning to face the rest of the Saiyans.  
  
The man he had attacked slowly got up.  
  
"You have just made the worst mistake of your life boy. You have no idea what you're getting into. You may have caught us by surprise but now that you are here there is no place to run!" Banana spat out as he got up.  
  
"Who said anything about running?" Roshi said calmly.  
  
"Funny, just who the hell do you think you are brat?" Banana demanded.  
  
Roshi took several steps back so he could look at all of them at the same time. Letting his anger fuel his aura, he spoke, "I am Son Roshi. I am the eldest heir of the Family Vegeta from the time 550 some years ago when Frieza attempted to exterminate the Saiyan race." He paused for effect his blue aura building like a firestorm around him. Clenching his fists, he created two small explosions that rippled the ground and shook the air around him. "By your own words, I am your king." He said calmly and evenly with as much force as he could muster.  
  
* * *  
  
  
Important Authors Note.   
  
I have a friend who I don't talk to much anymore. When she was eighteen, she was brutally beaten and Raped. This was several years ago and she still has not recovered from her ordeal. I did not include the attempted rape in this chapter to glorify it as some authors here on FF.net have done. It is a despicable EVIL disgusting act and being Male I truly cannot know what it would feel like but I fully believe that any guy who thinks that Rape is funny should have his balls removed with a sledge hammer or other painful manner.  
  
My heart goes out to anyone who has ever been affected by rape.  
  
Now, I would like your honest assessment of this chapter. Should the Rating go up to NC-17 because of what is in this chapter? Please tell me what you think.  
  
* * *  
  
# I would like to thank Adam for the idea of using the Durian fruit as one of my villains. Thanks man!  
  
  
* Durians The stinking fruit. During the ripening process this fruit spreads a bad smell. This is so bad that in south-east Asia the fruit may not be taken into an airplane or hotels.   
* The taste of the durian is very good and special, like vanilla. So special that even durian parties are organized.  
* Do not store the durian, it smells too bad.  
  
This stuff is actually real fruit, I can't make something this funny up. Don't store cause it smells too bad... HA HA ;)  
  
Lastly but not least. Thanks again to all of you who told me about the Html. I am not going to worry about that for a while. I think the quality of the written work is of more importance to you readers then how the text looks on the screen. Once I am all done revising, I will post the new chapters in html... and THEN repost these old chapters AGAIN only this time without taking the whole thing down. 


	23. You're going to do WHAT!

Chapter 23

YOU'RE going to do WHAT?!?!?!

Monday 9:00 p.m.

"By your own words I am your king."  Roshi said as he watched the six men.

Banana looked like he was about to say something when Kinomi or rather Ichigo suddenly let out an infernal scream.  Roshi watched as her ki shot up rapidly and built a greenish blue aura around her.  She broke free from the men who were holding her down and shot at Roshi like a Rocket.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"  She screamed as she flew at him with her broken jaw forcing her mouth into a misshaped O.

Roshi had less then second to react.  He didn't.  The very vacant and far away look in her eyes was the last thing he saw before she drove a full powered right hook Ki Punch into his left cheek.

* * *

Ichigo was in a daze, she heard and saw and felt what was going on, but it was almost as if she were a person watching from the outside rather then herself.

Beep BEEP BEEEP!!  One of the men's scouters chimed.

Ichigo opened her eyes in time to see Banana who had been kneeling over her get slammed into by something moving faster then she could make out at the time.  She slowly rolled her head so she could get a better view.  Standing fifty or so feet away with a bright blue aura surrounding him was Son Roshi.  He let the aura drop away and he turned to look into her eyes and then glare at the men holding her down.

'And the Jerk just had to be the one to come save me' was all she could think.

Ichigo was not the most aware at the moment was she was impressed with is bravado.  'There is no way he can beat them, doesn't even matter' she thought.

She realized Roshi was talking and fought to focus on what he was saying.

"By your own words, I am your King."  He said.

Ichigo heard the words.  They slowly sunk in.  In a moment of epiphany it is said that everything makes sense and the universe of possibilities opens up.  Ichigo had a reverse-epiphany.  What little hope, trust, and even sanity she had at the moment shattered like a crystal hit by a very very large hammer.

'He wants to take everything from me' was the only thing she could think.  'That was his goal the entire time.  He has it in his blood.  I never should have trusted him.'  Her rage built in an instant and she broke free of whatever it was that was holding her back.  He never even tried to block.

She saw him crash into a granite outcropping causing it to collapse and bury him under tones of rubble.  Ichigo felt nothing from this knowledge.  No pain, no remorse, no sadness, no joy, no anger, and most importantly, no end.  She was obliviously flying towards the rubble to finish the job when something hit her in the back.

Reacting on instinct, she started to fight with the man who had attacked her.  All the while retreating deeper and deeper into the corners of her mind.

* * *

Banana's scouter went nuts.  He had been watching the power level of the kid who had dared to attack him.  The scouter had originally  said that he had a power level of 25.  A person who had that low of a power level would have been turned into goo upon slamming into him, so Banana knew that he had to be stronger.  But how much stronger, and why wasn't his scouter detecting his strength.  The scouter couldn't find a number.  It reported 50,000 and then 10, and then 40,000 and it was all over the place.  But, with the way the boy was producing that flaming aura, he had to be strong.

Then all hell broke loose.  Princess Ichigo suddenly started screaming and broke free from his men.  Banana's scouter suddenly was reporting that she had a power level of 76,300!  It was impossible.  He gawked at her as she slammed into the stupid boy and sent him into a cliff-side.

"Get her you fools!"  Banana shouted as she started to fly towards the collapsed cliff.

Obedient beyond measure, only Kiwi, the weakest showed any hesitation as the five of them flew after her.

'Hmmm, he thought to himself, Durian shows up as having a power level of 48,680.  That is correct.  Could she really have a power level of 76,000?  That is impossible.  She was only in the upper 20,000 to lower 30,000 range when she left.'  He thought as he took off to join the fight.

* * *

Durian hit Ichigo with a ki ball and caught her attention.  She turned around and threw a simple beam back at him.  They soon closed in and started fighting hand to hand.

Ichigo fought hard and fought well, but she was not really aware of what she was doing.  She reacted to their attacks and blocked or kicked or punched.  Had there only been one or two or maybe even three of them, then she may have had a chance.  As it was they were doing a significant amount of damage to her.

"Rot Beam!"  Durian shouted before opening his mouth wide to shoot a green breath attack at her.

Ichigo saw it coming, but did nothing to get out of its way.  She took the blast and was thrown several hundred meters away.

The attack had shredded her right ear and left her face bloody and bruised.

"AAAAHHHHH" She yelled back as she fired off a huge one-handed conical beam of bluish-purple light.  The beam vaporized about three miles of grasslands and rolling hills.  Unfortunately, it missed all six of the Saiyans.

A shadow moved behind her and she spun around to fight it.  Two sets of hands grabbed her arms and started to drag her down towards the ground.

"Nooaaaahhh!!"  She yelled as she brought her arms together smashing Papaya and Mango into each other.  The two unprepared warriors fell out of the sky dazed.

An arm came from behind her to put her into a strangle hold.  

Pineapple spoke into her ear as his other hand reached around to grab her left breast.  "Oh no you don't bitch, I haven't gotten my jollies from you yet"

Without even thinking her left elbow shot back and slammed into his ribs.  She felt a rib snap and heard him exhale in pain.

When his chokehold weakened, she spun around so that his arm was still draped around her neck, but Ichigo was now facing him.  Pineapple tried to back away, but did not get very far before she slammed her knee up into his groin.  She grabbed his left foot as he was flung up by the impact and yanked him down to drive his groin onto her other knee.

Pineapple spun up and away from her in while pulling himself into a fetal position.

"Trryy ta raathe nee ill YAAHHH??"  She screamed at him before flying up to fire a ki blast at point blank range right into his crotch.  

Suddenly, a large ki ball slammed into Ichigo's left side exploding and pushing her away from Pineapple.

When the smoke cleared, one could see a large bloody gash running from her side starting over where her kidneys would be to the middle of her back.  

Ichigo barely noticed.  She didn't care about the pain.  Right then she really didn't care about much of anything.  She just wanted everything to go away and leave her alone.

* * *

"DIE YOU STUPID BITCH!!!"  Banana screamed as his ki ball hit Ichigo in the side.  

He then looked on in disgust and horror as Pineapple stopped his upward movement and arched back towards the ground.  Blood and bowels were falling out of what had just moments ago been the warrior's lower abdomen.  

"Stop playing with her and kill the bitch!  We can have our choice of any REAL Saiyan woman we want once we get back to Saiya!"  Banana ordered as he powered up to his maximum level of 56,300 and took off to attack Ichigo.

* * *

Hours away, Tee was peacefully sleeping in his bed when Boxers started pounding on his window.

Bang Bong! "Hey wake up!  Tee get up now!!"

"Ok, Ok, I'm up!  What do you want?"  Tee said groggily as he jumped up to open up his screen door to his balcony and let Boxers in.

"I was meditating and I felt something.  Feel the air, reach out with your ki, tell me you feel it too."  Boxers said as he moved into the room.

Tee closed his eyes for a moment.  "I don't know, there might be something going on over there," he pointed to the northwest, "but I couldn't tell you.  Why didn't you call Roshi and let me sleep?  He is a lot better at this sort of thing anyway."  He said indignantly.

"I tried!  But I got his mother and she screamed bloody murder at me and hung up the phone."  Boxers explained.

"Let me guess, you used a pay phone so you couldn't just call Roshi's computer with the private link Slip set up."  Tee said flatly as he went over to wake up his computer.

"I was in a hurry, Okay?"  Boxers said back.

"Sure whatever."  Tee said sarcastically.

"What's this?" Tee said as his computer came on to reveal a blinking message icon.

Tee opened the message and read it quickly.  "Damn it Slip!"  He said out loud.

"What?" Boxers asked as he came over to read the note on the computer.

To Boxers and Tee, 

Roshi said he needed your help.  It obviously has to do with that girl.  

I would suggest that you let Roshi handle his own problems and just go 

Back to bed when you get this message.

Slip

"Oh crap!  It says that the message was sent at 8:34!  Its 9:08 now!  Despite what Slip thinks, if Roshi skipped out of his house and asked for our help, there has to be something major going on.  Come on let's go!"  Boxers yelled as he ran out the door and took flight.

"HEY!  Wait up!  I still need to get my gi on!"  Tee yelled after him.

* * *

Ichigo landed near the spot where Pineapple had fallen.  She as she watched Banana fly in at her she was not even aware of the dieing man behind her.  Nor was she aware of the four other men who were flying in to attack her.  

"AAAAAHHHH" She yelled as she fired of a Flare attack at Banana.

"Kiahhh!"  Banana yelled as he shot a wave of energy in to disperse her cone of super heated ki.  

WHAM!!  Ichigo knocked his leg away with her left arm as he attempted to kick her in the face.

Banana looked into her eyes trying to get a read on her.  He saw death.  Cold, hard, and emotionless her vacant gray-blue eyes stared back without focus.  Then Papaya swept her feet out from under her and she turned to attack him.

* * *

'Aggghhh, the whole left side of my face feels like it caved in' Roshi thought as he came to.

His lungs burned. 'Crap!  I'm rebreathing my own air!  If I don't get out of here, I'll suffocate.'  He thought as he coughed up some blood and tooth fragments.

Roshi slowly expanded his ki until he could push his way out of the pile of rubble.

He assessed his situation as he pulled himself up onto the top of the collapsed Cliffside. He had three broken teeth, an extremely bad headache, a stiff neck, bruised shoulder, and various scrapes and other bruises.  'Ouch,' he thought as he stretched cracking several joints painfully.  'What the heck did she do that for?  I swear, if I live to be a million I won't understand the way women think. Thankfully she didn't break any bones' 

  Roshi tried to sense Boxers or Tee and could not, meaning they were a very long ways off.  He could still sense seven other ki sources in the area.  One of them was growing faint quite rapidly, but he could see Ichigo fighting so he knew she was not the one dieing.

Stretching himself out and feeling his bruises he realized that this was not going to be an easy fight, especially if he had to worry about Ichigo attacking him for no reason.  'I'll deal with her later when she can explain why she attacked me' He thought to himself as he reached up to see if he communicator was still working.

It was cracked and the mic piece was hanging on by a wire, but it beeped so it was still working.

"Hey Slip, you there?"  He asked into the mic.

"No, I'm busy now, leave me alone."  Slip replied before cutting off the link.

'Ah crap, guess I'm on my own until Boxers and Tee show up' He thought before launching himself towards the battle.

None of the other combatants noticed him as he flew up, which allowed him to access their fighting abilities.

Kinomi, no, he reminded himself that her REAL name was Ichigo, was not fighting anything like what she did yesterday.  It was like she was in a drunken stupor and not thinking about her actions.  She was only fighting reactively.  And she was fighting poorly.

Roshi watched as one of the men grabbed her long braid and flew in the opposite direction she had been going, causing her head to snap around like she had been clothes lined.  She forgot all about the man she had been chasing and started fighting the brute holding her hair.

The fact that they were mostly playing with her and she was allowing it bothered Roshi.  'She is bleeding excessively from multiple injuries and still has a level over 60,000.  She is out numbered, but still, she is almost asking to get killed.  And these guys are not even that good.  Well, either they are not that good, or they are being very sloppy because they know she is not much of a threat.'  He reminded himself.

"Hey if any of you guys in the MORON SQUAD wants to have a real fight, I'm waiting!" Roshi called out as he flew up and landed 50 meters from were the group of men was trying to beat Ichigo into paste.

Roshi saw the leader look up to glare at him.

"Oh, so you aren't dead yet?  What do you think you can prove boy?"  He touched his scouter, "You have a power level of 5,000.  You may have survived an attack by that weak pathetic bitch, but you are no match for us.  Durian, you and Mango go take care of that worm."

'Call me a worm will ya, well then I'm the strongest worm they've ever met.  Hmmm 80,000 should be high enough to make them think twice.'  Roshi smirked at the thought.

"YEAAAAAAHHHHHH!"  Roshi yelled as a white aura formed around him.  He took off to attack.

Durian flew up and punched right through Roshi's after image.  

WHAM!!  Roshi hit the man, who had identified himself as Banana when he had talked to Ichigo earlier, in his left ear shattering his scouter and launching him into the air. 

"RRHaaaaa" Roshi yelled as he slammed his fist into Banana's gut.

Roshi sensed someone forming a ki attack behind him and he spun around to see a short squat man who had not been named standing over Ichigo's unconscious form.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Roshi yelled as he flew in to block the man's attack.  He didn't particularly like her at the moment, but he was going to be damned if he let someone kill her like a downed horse after he had saved her life twice.

"Rot Beam!"  The largest one yelled before sending a green beam of light out of his mouth at Roshi.

Roshi turned, seeing the attack, he cupped his hands. "KA....ME....HA....ME.......HA!!!"  Roshi held the attack powering it up until Durian's green beam had almost hit him.  Then he released it.  Roshi's Kamehameha was about three times larger then the Breath attack Durian had launched.  It absorbed the Rot beam effortlessly as it sped towards the large man.

WHOOOOMMMM!!!  The beam exploded on impact.  When the dust and smoke had settled, Durian was seen smoking with most of his upper armor blown off. Also, rather then sporting his former double Mohawk hair style, was now completely bald.

Roshi then spun in the air to catch an incoming fist. 

"You must be Mango, Care to tell me who the fat guy and the short fat guy are before I have to kill you all?"  Roshi said as he wrenched the man's arm around forcing him to spin into the oncoming beam Banana had fired at Roshi.

Boom!

When the man refused to say anything he threw him down into the ground and charged at Banana again.

After several successive blows to Banana's stomach and face, he landed and threw the man down at his feet.

"I give you the option to leave now.  If you stay it will only force me to kill you."  Roshi said firmly.

Banana and his goons slowly started to circle around Roshi like sharks.

"You are quite the warrior, but I do think you are mistaken."  Banana said as he wiped some blood off of his forehead.

"Oh really?"  Roshi replied cockily.  "Why is that?"

Banana started laughing.  "You really are clueless.  You claim Saiyan heritage, but you are clueless."  He whipped around and pointed.  "That Boy is the moon.  It is rising over the horizon as we speak.  It looks rather full to me boy.  I would say you have about a minute to kill us before we all go Ouzaru.  I don't think you can, so it is over for you."  He laughed.

"Ignore the bitch, we can come back for her.  Spread out and break things, he can't catch us all."  Banana laughed and then took to the air with his men.

Roshi's mood fell like a meteor.  'KAMI NO!  HOW COULD I MISS THAT!?!?!  The effects of the full moon last three days!  Oh Kami...  Options, Options I need to think of my options.'

The short fat man stopped in his retreat and fired one last ki ball at Roshi.

'Kill you and raise my chances by a long shot' Roshi thought as he watched the ball race at him.

"**KAMEHAMEHA!!!!**" he yelled.  The ball of ki splattered like a snowball against the head of Roshi's Kamehameha.

Roshi watched with regret as the beam vaporized Kiwi.  'I didn't even know his name'

A distant explosion as one of the goons blew something up shook Roshi out of his stupor.

"Oh Kami help me!  What can I do?" He said aloud before starting to really think.  'Option A: Blow up the moon.  Can't do that there are 5,000 people working at CC's lunar plant.  Option B:  Give Ichigo a senzu and hope she doesn't attack me.  Not if I can avoid it.  Option C:  Get close enough to them to cut of their tails with a Kienzian.  And get stomped into snail snot.  Option D:  Kiao ken.  I tried it once.  It hurt too much to keep it up.  But I am a lot stronger now, so who knows, I might be able to do it.  Oh Kami I don't want to rely on mights and maybes.  If I fail to do it right, I will be too hurt to even try to fight.'

Inspiration struck Roshi.

"SLIP THIS IS LIFE AND DEATH SO BY KAMI YOU HAD DAMN WELL BETTER ANSWER ME!"  He yelled into his mic.

"Ok I'm here keep your pants on jeesh your girlfriend to much for you or something?"  Slip snapped back.

"Don't you have the GKSS running yet?"

"No, it is not exactly one of my priorities right now."  An electric popping noise could be heard in the background.  "There, the computer is reconnecting to the satellites now.  If that is all I have things I really need to be doing."  Slip said back in an indignant tone.

"Slip shut the fuck up and listen to me for once in your life.  I am fighting FOUR tailed Saiyans.  The moon will be up in about oh 30 seconds.  I need you to evacuate the moon base, and I need you to do it NOW!"

"You want me to do WHAT!?  Ha ha nice joke Roshi.  There are over 5,000 people on the moon.  I don't find this funny you know.  Let me see what the GKSS says about that."  Slip shot back.

* * *

Slip dusted herself off and brought up the screen for the GKSS just in time to watch as four icons stared to flash and increase in power.  Four Ouzarus were forming.

"SLIP THIS ISN'T A JOKE!  I will give you five minutes to evacuate as many people as possible, but it is better if I end up killing every one of the people on the moon then if I allowed these Ouzarus to kill every person here on Earth now EVACUATE THE FUCKING MOON!!!"  Roshi screamed at her before his link went dead.

"Roshi?!??  ROSHI ARE YOU STILL THERE?!?!"  Slip screamed.

There was no answer.

Slip stared at her computer.  "This can't be happening."  She watched as the computer tagged eight people.  The most powerful Ouzaru had a power level of 564,000 then there was one at 430,000 and two at 360,000.  It showed Boxers and Tee at 28,400 and 24,500 respectively, AND an hour away.  Then it showed Roshi at 112,000 '112,000 is good but he is majorly out matched' Slip thought as she found the last icon representing Ichigo as being unconscious.

Slip grabbed a camera and set it up to point at her computer.  She was not about to broadcast the damaged wreck the rest of her lab was in.

'Oh my parents are going to kill me when they get home.  I don't even want to think of how much this is going to cost us.'  She thought before activating the communication relays.

"Computer open the Alpha priority Emergency channel.  Authorization Slip Son Briefs, ID number 15524485A."  Slip waited for the computer to tell her that the channel was open.

"This is Slip Son Briefs.  I am hereby ordering an emergency evacuation of the Lunar Base.  I repeat EVACUATE the Lunar Base immediately.  This is not a drill.  I have reason to believe that the Moon will be destroyed within five minutes.  Please by Kami get off the moon now."  She said before she lost her voice and shut off the transmission.

Slip recalled how she had acted earlier that evening.  "Oh Kami what have I done?"

* * *

Meanwhile, the ship Slip's parents had taken had just landed on Namek.  While they had set the computer to ignore all messages, it could not be set to ignore an Alpha priority message of any type.  

"Alert, Alpha Priority Message incoming."  The computer reported right before Goshu walked out the door to head down the ramp.  He had been surprised to detect both Piccolo and Nail waiting for the ship to land.  Even though he had come on the trip specifically to work with the two of them, it was unlike them to come to him.  So, he had been in a hurry to see what the two Nameks had thought was so urgent that they had not waited for him to come to them.

"That girl had better have a real good reason for sending an Alpha level message.  If she just wants us to come home so she can sluff of responsibility again, I'm cutting off her allowance."  Slips father complained.

"Well Frank, we will just have to go to the bridge and see what the message is."  Teddy, Slip's mother said to her husband.

The two of them walked up to the bridge and after hearing some screaming, Goshu followed.

"I'm going to call her and see what is going on."  Teddy said.

Oh no you are not."  Frank said.  "This has got to be a sick joke just to get us to call her and tell her what do to.  There is no way this is a real message! WHAT does she mean EVACUATE the LUNAR BASE?!?!"  Frank screamed.  "They Moon isn't going to just BLOW UP!  I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF HER STUPID IRRESPONCIBLE JOKES!  Evacuate the Moon!  Does she have any clue how much that is going to cost.  Not only in time but fuel and products and resources!..."  Frank was and accountant and had married into the family for the money.  He could have gone on forever, but Goshu cut him off.

"What is that on the screen behind her?"  He asked as the message repeated.

Teddy looked closer at it and then had the computer zoom in on the monitor that was behind Slip.

"The label on the monitor says that it is the Global Ki Surveillance System.  I hate to say it but I have no idea what it might be.  Slip is using Bulma's old lab, and there is a lot of stuff in there that was never carried over or updated when they built the bigger building."  She said.

"We need to go back to Earth now."  Goshu said quickly.

"WHAT!! This is my vacation.  No stupid joke of my daughter is going to ruin it.  We can deal with Slip later.  Like I said, the moon isn't just going to blow up!"  Frank shot back.

"If what I am seeing is right, it very well might be going to be blown up." Goshu said.

Before Frank could go purple in the face yelling anymore, Teddy clamped her hand over his mouth.  "Could you explain just how you came to that conclusion?"  Teddy said.

"Ah, yeah."  Goshu started.  "As you well know ki is the energy we manipulate when we fight."

"Yes, we know, but what does it have to do with this situation?"  Teddy asked calmly.

"Well it can be detected by various machines, and I think that this is what that Global surveillance system is doing.  It tracks Ki."  Seeing the impatient look in Teddy's eyes, Goshu finished his explanation.  "Ah, that screen there shows four Ouzarus, and my son Roshi fighting two of them."

"But how, there are no other Saiyans but us!"  Teddy exclaimed.  "The family spent years looking for them, and no Saiyans on Earth have tails to go Ouzaru."

"Apparently we missed some someplace and now they are attacking the Earth.  If it is a choice between dieing and letting everyone else on the planet die, or blowing up the moon, I know Roshi would blow up the moon, and bye the looks of it if that thing is accurate and my memory of how scouters worked is accurate he is easily able to blow it up."

When Teddy didn't reply Goshu continued.  "Call Slip she can explain things, but we need to go back.  I am going to get Nail and Piccolo and be back in a minute or so, but we need to go back to Earth now."

"Ah, yeah," was all Teddy could reply.

* * *

Roshi saw one of the brutes, the one he thought was Mango transform into an Ouzaru.  Mango's power level went up from around 36,000 to 360,000 in a few moments.  He saw Roshi and came to attack.

'It's now or never' Roshi thought.  "KiaooooKeeeen!"  He screamed as pain ripped through his body.  Roshi had heard stories of how the Kiaoken was performed.  He knew the basics.  But he did not know enough to perform it quite the right way.  Therefore, he got the intended speed and power boost, but he also was damaging his body at a far faster rate then Goku did when he had performed the same thing fighting Vegeta.

Mango had a new version of the scouter.  It grew with the transformation sending a holographic image into the eye rather then covering it with a lens.  He watched the power level reading for the boy he was about to squash like a bug go from 112,000 to 168,000 as a reddish orange aura flared up around him.  'He would have killed us had the moon not been full.  Lucky for us it is.' Mango thought as he jumped up to try to land on and crush Roshi.

"KIIIIAAAAAAOOOOOOOKEEEENNN TIIIMMMMESSSS TTTHHHHRRREEEEEEEEEAAAA!  Roshi wailed.  As an even larger Red-orange aura grew around him.  He jumped up and slammed his fist into Mango's nose.

"AAHHHHH  That actually HURT YOU STUPID LITTLE FLY!"  Mango bellowed.  "Now I'm going to Eat you for that!"

He swung his gargantuan fist slamming it into Roshi's entire left side.

Roshi had kicked out moments before the blow had connected slamming his foot into an onrushing finger.

While Roshi was thrown back several hundred meters, Mango growled in pain at his broken finger.

'Me 2, him 0' Roshi thought as he flew back at his foe.  He couldn't help but remind himself not to be cocky.  He could only sustain the Kiaoken for a few minutes, if that.  If one of the Brutes got through Roshi's defenses before he could blow up the moon...  Well, Roshi didn't want to think of that.

* * *

Several hundred miles away even Tee felt the sudden increased in power.

"KAMI what the hell is he fighting?!?!"  Tee exclaimed.

"I don't know, but there are four of them."  Boxers said back.

Tee's voice wavered.  "Boxers, is that really Roshi?  It feels like well I can't describe it, but he has more power now then I have ever felt before, and the isn't even as strong as what he is fighting."

"I know.  We need to speed up.  I doubt we will be much help, but we still need to try."  Boxers said before pushing every last bit of his ki into speed.

Tee followed after knowing that if Roshi failed, they were headed towards certain death.

* * *

Ichigo slowly came to.

'Why aren't I dead?'  She thought to herself.  'I didn't even get a dream this time.  Only more pain.'

The land shook and something rumbled in the distance.

'The stupid bastard jerk must still be fighting the rest of the traitors.'

She tried to sit up and immediately fell back over.  When she did, her hand flopped onto something soft.

She slowly pulled it in front of her so she could see what it was.

'This looks like that pouch the jerk keeps his healing beans in.' She thought to herself as she tried to open the bag with broken fingers.

Three green beans fell out onto her chest.

'It is the bag he keeps his healing beans in.'

Ichigo grabbed one of the beans and brought it to her mouth.

'If I can just swallow this, I might be able to teach all those traitors why MY family is the rightful Royal Family.'  She thought as she forced it past her mashed and bloody lips.

* * *

Author's note.  Once again thank you to all of you loyal readers who read and review and even Email me.

The Smooster

p.s.  you all need to read Glitch by Kitsune Maxwell  Good fic it be :)


	24. When Lives Hang in the Balance

Chapter 24

When Lives Hang in the Balance

Monday, 9:45 p.m. 

Mango was unpleasantly surprised.  He was losing to the boy.  'What the heck is he?'  He thought as Roshi's aura flared moments before he slammed into the left side of Mango's jaw, cranking his head around and causing the Ouzaru to stumble.

Mango attempted to pound Roshi into the ground.  He only succeeded in imbedding his fist into the turf as Roshi darted through his legs.

"Damn it!  Stand still and fight me you insect!"  Mango bellowed as he spun around to face behind himself.  He caught sight of Roshi's aura and quickly fired off a breath blast attack catching the demisaiyan by surprise.

The breath blast sent Roshi through a small hill and into a large lake.  Water boiled away and the entire lake swirled around him forming waterspouts as the water absorbed the heat of his ki.  

'Now it is time to show him why even the Changelings fear our Ouzaru form'  "Citron!!"  Mango yelled as he fired off a huge yellow orange beam.  The beam slammed into the swirling lake and vaporized most of it in an instant.

* * *

Roshi let the Kaioken drop away and hid his power while he hovered in the vapors of the former lake.

'This is not working.  I need more power if I am going to beat even one of these guys.  This guy is the weakest and I am barely holding my own.'  Roshi's thoughts were cut off as he suddenly felt Ichigo power up in the distance.  'What the hell?'  Realizing that there were only two ways she could have suddenly been healed to greater strength then she started out with, and that Dende was not anywhere near the battle, he reached instinctively for his belt.  'Oh no! I lost my senzu beans!'

A sudden blast of ki signaled the end of Roshi's respite as an Ouzaru suddenly charged in through the mist.

'Crap!  The new scouters must be better then ours.  Oh, this is going to hurt but if I want to beat him I have no choice.'  "KIAOOOOKENNNN TIMESSSSS FOOOOUUURRRR!!!"  Roshi yelled out as his body was engulfed in pain.  He smelled the acrid sent of burning hair as his arm hair burst into flame.  Looking down at his arms he thought, 'this is probably not a good sign.  Better make this quick.'

"MASENKO!"  He yelled as he fired off his attack as full strength at the charging Ouzaru.

* * *

Mango was elated.  'I must have hit the worm.  His power level is down to a mere 5.  Oh, this will be fun, time to finish him off' He thought as he charged in.

Mango almost stopped his charge as his scouter picked up a sudden spike in the boy's ki.  He went from 5 to 448,000 in a few seconds.

'Shit,' was all that Mango had time to think before a 15 meter wide ball of yellow ki smacked into the middle of his chest.

* * *

Banana was in the middle of smashing the last house in a village when his secondary scouter went nuts.  '448,000??  Where the heck did that come from?' He thought as he saw the command indicator for Mango suddenly fade away.

'That brat can control his ki better then any being I have ever seen in my life.  He just killed Mango, and now appears to be flying right for Papaya.'  "Papaya, expect company, eta 20 seconds.   The rest of you, converge on Papaya's position.  We have already lost Pineapple, Kiwi and Mango to this rabble.  It is time we started working together.  Once we are done with the moron, we can have fun with the planet before heading home."  Banana commanded as he set off for Papaya's position.

* * *

"Slip, can you patch the feed from the GKSS through to us here so we don't have to look over you shoulder?"  Goshu asked politely.

      "Ah. Ah. Ah. I'll try."  Slip said shakily.

Slip was visibly shaken.  She was not handling the stress well.  Having had her father rip into her for costing the family face and money did not help things.  Teddy had finally had to sedate her husband so that she and Goshu could work with Slip.

"Slip honey," Teddy asked.  "Could you tell me why the image for Roshi keeps fluctuating so much?  And why it keeps having a blue and white and sometimes red outline?"

"Ah, I can answer part of that for you."  Goshu cut in.  "Roshi is controlling his ki.  It takes a lot of energy to keep one's ki at full power.  When we left for this trip Roshi was working on his ki control.  It looks like he has managed to acquire some degree of control.  As far as the colors I couldn't tell you.  Slip do you know?"

"Ah yeah just as second.  Ok, according to the Help file thing, the white is when he is powering up.  The blue is when he is at what the computer has determined is his full normal power level, or when he is exceeding it through normal means.  It gives a bunch of explanation but it doesn't mean a thing to me, maybe it would to you but anyway, the red is when the computer detects him using something called the Kaioken.  It also has yellow for Super Saiyan and Green for Fusion and..."  Slip could have rambled on for a while but was cut off by Goshu.

"Wait! You said the Kaioken?"

"Ah, yeah, the red is for something called the Kaioken.  Why, is it important?"  Slip asked back.

Goshu took a deep breath before continuing. 'Where could have he learned the Kaioken?'  "Ah, yes it is extremely important.  No one has been able to successfully do the Kaioken since Goku taught it to Ubuu.  It is an extremely powerful technique, but if done wrongly it could be fatal.  I tried it once, and it took me about a week of bedtime before I could walk again."

"WHAT?!?!  Slip screamed in panic.  You mean he could die from using that?!?!"

"Yes, yes he could, let us hope that he is doing it correctly or else there may not be much left of the Earth when we get...  Back."  Goshu finished as he saw Slip faint on the screen.

* * *

'He was toying with me.  He was just toying with me the entire time!'  Ichigo thought as she watched Roshi fight with the three remaining Ouzarus.  'THAT STUPID JERK WAS JUST TOYING WITH ME!'

Getting knocked out and then waking up to eat a senzu had helped clear Ichigo's head.  She was no longer in a daze.  No longer watching from the outside looking in.  It had taken her a few moments to recognize Roshi without any hair but she had.  Now she had only one thing on her mind: Revenge.  She was going to destroy all those who had mocked her and betrayed her and belittled her and taken advantage of her.  'He took my tail, he wants my kingdom, and he must die!'  She thought as she watched Roshi fight the three.

'But first, I will deal with the other traitors.  They betrayed my father and their own people and for that they must pay.'

Rationality forgotten, Ichigo flew in to fight.

* * *

Roshi was breathing raggedly.  His energy was dropping rapidly.  It hurt to breathe.  It hurt to fly.  It hurt to stand.  It just plain hurt.

"What's the matter?  Getting worn out by all of us?  Banana yelled at him.  "Fine.  I will fight you one on one.  I will crush you and then I will crush your world."

"I'm not done yet!"  Roshi gasped as he tried desperately to catch his breath.  Roshi focused his thoughts on Slip, and the people on the moon who would die if he could not beat the Ouzaru's in a straight up fight.  He then thought about his camping trip with Mariah, and how he already missed the light airiness of her laughter.  And Kit's wit and quick tounge.  If he died, if he failed completely they were as good as dead.  Banana would kill everyone he couldn't use and then move on from there.

'I must not fail.  For Mariah, and Kit, and Tee, and Boxers, and Slip and everyone else, I must not fail'  Roshi thought.

Suddenly Ichigo appeared between him and Banana.  He spotted his pouch for the senzu beans stuck into the strap of her shorts.  He also noticed that getting beat up and then healed once again brought her power level up.  She was now somewhere in the 100,000 to 110,000 range.

'Catching up rather fast' He thought before stumbling and having to catch his balance.

"I challenge you Banana!  YOU will pay for what you did to my father and our people.  Moreover you will pay for what you tried to do to me!"  Ichigo screamed.

'Is she insane?  She doesn't stand a chance with a power level that low!'

"No, This fight is between Banana and I, stay out of it!"  He heard himself yell.

Ichigo spun around and looked at Roshi with eyes of pure hatred.  "I will deal with you later."  She said before turning and opening her left hand.  Blue white energy played up her fingers for a moment before she screamed out.  

"Blaze!!"  She screamed directing the one handed version of her super hot Flare attack at Banana.

While the Flare attack was more powerful, the one handed Blaze version was a more tightly packed beam of energy rather then a wide bursting cone.  Banana swung his arm around to shield his face and the beam ignited the hair on his arm and chest.

"AAAHHHHRRRGGGHHHH!"  Banana screamed in pain before smacking Ichigo with the back of his right hand.  She was thrown right into Durian.  Durian caught her and pitched her like a baseball right back at Banana.

Roshi watched on in horror as Banana's fist suddenly started to glow yellow.  'He knows the Ki Punch!' Roshi thought moments before Banana hit Ichigo straight into the ground.

'I have to stop this!' Roshi thought.  'But I don't know if I can'

* * *

"Goshu, is this as bad as it looks?"  Teddy asked quietly.

...

"Goshu, are you sure you should be watching this? Teddy said.

Goshu clenched his fists as he watched the most powerful two Ouzaru toss the person the GKSS had faithfully labeled "Unknown Saiyan Female" around like she was a rag doll.

Teddy went to shut the screen off, but Goshu stopped her.  "Goshu, no one should ever have to watch another person die.  I can't imagine what you must be feeling now, but I can read the numbers.  They aren't going to win."

"Never say that!"  Goshu spat.  "We don't know what will happen.  I for one will never forgive myself if I allowed you to shut that screen off.  If Roshi does loose and if he does die, I Have to watch."

"But why?  Why put yourself through that?"

"During the Cell games, Goku died to save the earth.  When Cell came back, it looked like his sacrifice was in vain.  But in the end with his father talking to him from heaven, Gohan was able to beat Cell.  I may not be there to fight with my son.  And I may not be able to talk to him.  But by Kami, I will watch him fight, so if nothing else I can lend him my prayers and support."

Teddy didn't know what else to say so she just watched in mute horror as her nephew fought.  In the back of her mind she knew that she also needed to watch, because if Roshi failed.  If Roshi died fighting these Saiyans this night.  Slip would probably not live much longer.  Teddy had many regrets, and if her only child, her precious daughter died before she could tell her just how much she wished she could have spent more time with her, she herself would die inside.

* * *

"Come on Tee we need to move faster!"  Boxers called out to his cousin.

"Shut up!  Stop deluding yourself Boxers!"  Tee yelled back.  "I'm not about to give up, but you know as well as I do that this battle is going to be over in a few minutes.  We won't even reach it for another 30 minutes or so, and that is assuming the battle keeps moving towards us!"

Boxers had nothing to say.  'Roshi what is happening to you?  I can almost feel your pain.  How are you finding that strength?  And why did you always have to do it alone Tee and I should be with you.  If we hadn't been so cocky, so irresponsible we would be.  Maybe we could have helped.  Maybe not, but at least we would be there to fight and die with you.'

"Stop that Boxers!"  Tee yelled.  "I can sense you getting depressed.  This fight isn't over yet.  A lot can happen in five minutes!"

"I know, I know" Boxers said back.  "But will the right things happen?"

* * *

Roshi watched as Banana picked Ichigo up and started to squeeze her in his fist.  Banana mashed his oversized thumb into her chest.  "Scream for me bitch!  I want to know if this is as good for you as it is for me!"  Banana yelled into her face.

"PUT HER DOWN!"  Roshi yelled.

Banana stopped and looked down at Roshi.  "Or what?"

'Oh Dende let me do this.'  "KAIOKEN TIIMMMESSSSS FIVVVEEEEEEE!!!!"  Roshi yelled out.  The pain was immense.  He felt his skin crack and start to bleed.  His vision blurred as blood seeped into his eyes.  'If I keep this up I will die, but I have no choice.'

Banana looked down at Roshi.  'Figures.  560,000, the boy has a power level of 560,000.  Exactly the same as I do in my Ouzaru form.'

Banana threw the limp unconscious Ichigo over his shoulder.  He would deal with her later.

"Fine boy, let us fight.  We shall see who truly is fit to be king."  He said before sending an open handed blast at the point of ground Roshi was standing on.

* * *

'He's going to kill himself' Goku thought with concern.  For the first time since he had gone down and "borrowed" Buu to train with, Goku was truly worried.

"I told you not to interfere" Kaioshin said from behind him. "Now look at what has happened.  The girl wants to kill your Grandson, and her men are going to destroy the Earth before the night is through."

"Not if I can help it," Goku said as he walked over towards Buu.

"No.  I forbid you from taking Buu back to Earth.  You caused this chain of events, now you must watch it unfold."  Kaioshin said.

"How can you be so heartless?!"  Goku asked disgusted at the thought.

Kaioshin took a deep breath.  "Goku, it is not that I am heartless, but rather that I know what must be done.  You are one of the few beings who has ever become stronger then myself.  If I were to get involved with every little problem in the galaxy, no one would ever reach their own potential.  I would also not be allowing for the normal flow of life.  You saw fit to change the way life would unfold on Earth when you removed Buu so he would not kill the girl.  Granted, you could not see the path that that would take, no one can.  But as a guardian, you are responsible for more then just Earth or a few people.  You are here to protect everyone.  Sometimes that means allowing things that we would rather stop.  But it is the Right thing to do."  Kaioshin finished.

Kaioshin turned around and started to walk away.  "You may use your telepathy to talk to Dende once more, and to teach Roshi the right manner in which to perform the Kaioken, but then that is it.  You will not interfere with Earth again."

Goku looked at the Kaioshin distastefully.  'Must be the influence of Kibito.  The Kaioshin was never this strict before he fused with Kibito.'

Goku didn't like it, but he really did have little choice in the matter.  He set about helping Roshi start performing the Kaioken correctly.

* * *

Roshi dodged the ki blast and flew up to punch Banana right in the tip of his nose.  Crunch, he felt bones break, and blood started to seep out of the end of his snout.

He felt the other Ouzarus trying to close in and help.  "KIIIIIIAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"  WHHHHOOOOO BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!  He yelled spinning in a circle sending a supersonic wave of force out to knock the two other Ouzarus back.

In the moment that he had focused on the other two, Banana caught him in his fist.  

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  Roshi screamed in pain as Banana started to crush him in his grasp.  The damage to his body from the use of the Kaioken made the pain that much more severe and Roshi almost blacked out.

'I won't stop' He forced himself to think.

'That's right, you won't' A second voice added in his head.

'Whaaaa?'

'Roshi, we have no time for you to ponder.  Concentrate on this feeling.'  The voice said to him.

'Ok... why not?' He thought.

As he attempted to mimic the feeling that the voice had sent him he felt his body relax.  Some of the pain went away.  He felt energy flow back into his muscles.

'There, that is how you are supposed to focus the mind for the Kaioken to work.  Now use it and beat these brutes ok?'

Roshi didn't even think back a reply.  The whole thing left him a bit... well unnerved.

He did however focus his ki enough to break out of Banana's hold.  He blew open Banana's hand in a burst of ki and flew up to kick the brute in the eye.

"AAAHHHHHHHHH" Banana yelled before blindly firing off a breath blast that vaporized several mile long gully into the terrain.  

He felt a ki spike behind him and turned to see Durian fire off an Ouzaru sized Rot Beam.

'Perfect chance' Roshi thought.

He flew around Banana who was still rubbing his eyes and kicked him up and into the oncoming beam.

BOOOMMMM!!!!  The beam blew up burning even more of Banana's fur off.

Aach!  Roshi winced as he felt something in his right knee pop when he kicked Banana.

Roshi was very rapidly running out of energy.  He was still bleeding from when he had improperly used the Kaioken, and the blood loss and toll of the Kaioken were really starting weaken him.

He spun as his sensitive ears heard screaming.  About three kilometers away one of the other Ouzarus was attacking a village.

'THOSE BEASTS!!!'  Roshi thought.  He started to fly in that direction when Banana hit him with a Ki Punch.

* * *

      "Ah!"  Teddy gasped as she watched the image of the strongest Ouzaru slam Roshi into the air.

      "Dende no! She said as the power level reading for Roshi fell away like rain in thunderstorm.

"Wake up Roshi!"  Goshu yelled as they watched the Ouzaru send a huge breath blast at Roshi's spinning body.

At the last possible moment they saw Roshi dart away from the beam of energy and narrowly avoid it.

"Oh Kami... Dende please help him."  Goshu said.

* * *

Slip came to.  

She looked up at the monitor saw Roshi take the Ki punch and passed out again.

* * *

Roshi was fading in and out of consciousness.  'I must focus.  I can't give up.  Everyone is depending on me!'  

"Ahh, did that hurt?"  He heard Banana rumble as he slowly walked up to where Roshi was laying.  "Don't worry, in a moment you won't feel anything ever again.  First I'll kill you, then I will kill the princess, then I will kill you world."  Banana laughed.

Roshi knew he didn't dare use the Kaioken again but he had to do something.  He jumped up and started to run around Banana's feet.

Banana's scouter showed that Roshi had a power level of 39,045.  He was harmless.  He turned his head to follow Roshi's movement.

"Where do you think you're going?  You have no place to run boy!"  He said as he lifted his leg to stomp on and crush Roshi.

This was exactly what Roshi had wanted as he jumped under the uplift leg.  He focused everything he had into his hand.

"Kienzian!!"  He yelled as he threw the spinning disk of ki up at Banana's tail.

Belatedly figuring out what was happening, Banana tried to twist away.

Shhunck!!  The Kienzian sliced through his tail.

"AAAGGGGGHHHHHHHhhh!!" Banana screamed as he shrunk and transformed back into a man.

Banana had passed out before he hit the ground.

Roshi fell over.  His entire right leg was throbbing.  'I probably tore a ligament in my knee, running on it is not the smartest thing I have ever done.'  He thought

Roshi would have just let himself pass out there had he not heard a distant explosion and heard more screams.

He could sense Durian coming this way to investigate what had happened to his leader.

The other one who Roshi guessed was Papaya was still attacking the village.

'I have to stop him, no one else can.'  Roshi got up and flew past Durian who seemed content to ignore him.

When he got to the village what he saw shocked him.

Papaya was using small ki blasts to kill any person who ran out of his or her house and then randomly knocking down houses were people had not run out off.  

"AHHH MOOMMMYYY a little girl of maybe four yelled as she ran from under an over turned car to a building were her young mother cried out for her.

Papaya saw this and ripped the roof off of the building.  He picked up the cowering mother and child and tossed them into his mouth like candy.  He then chewed with his mouth open letting blood and body parts flow out onto his chin.

'NOOOOOO THAT MONSTER!!!!!' Roshi yelled within his mind.  'I failed these people!  I failed...'

Just like the previous night Roshi lost himself in rage.  He felt the floodgates open and sensed a well of ki within himself.  He fed upon it with abandon.

"Kaioken TIMES TENNNN!!!!!"  He screamed as ki flowed through him like heat in a blast furnace.  He felt a blood vessel burst on his forehead and it felt like a great massive fist were clasping his heart, but he didn't care.

BIIIIBIIIIIBEEEEP!!!!  Papaya's scouter wailed.  He turned his head in time to see the nova flash of ki emanate from Roshi.  His scouter read 1,120,000 and climbing.  He opened his mouth to gap.  Part of the little girl's head fell out and slowly fell to the earth.

"KA...ME...HA...ME.....HA!!!  Roshi yelled.

Papaya was dead before her head hit the ground.

* * *

Durian's scouter had been destroyed.  He felt blind.  He knew that Banana had failed because Papaya had told him so.  So he had set out to find the boy and kill him.

He realized something was very very wrong when there was as sudden flash of red light in the sky behind him were the village he had just left was.  He spun around in time so see a brilliant blue-white beam of energy like what had destroyed his scouter fly into the air.

He saw the distinctive red aura that the boy seemed to have while on the offensive and saw what was remaining of Papaya in the dieing light of the boys attack.

'Banana was a fool.  I knew something was terribly wrong here the moment we learned that Ichigo had lost her tail.  The fact that her power level had gone up to the mid forty thousand range as she flew at us should have warned us something was up.'

Durian pondered what he could do for a few moments.  'I will finish the mission.  No more delaying, no more playing, no more stupidity.  I will kill the girl and return to Saiya.  I may not have a scouter to record her death, but returning with her head in a box should be good enough.'

He took off in the direction of where Ichigo had fallen.

* * *

Roshi slowly flew back towards Ichigo.  'I need a senzu.  I lost it there.'  "Ahhh" he gasped as his muscles went into a momentary spasm.

His vision blurred and he could barely tell were he was going, but he found her.  He landed unceremoniously falling and flopping on top of her.  Slowly pushing himself off wincing at the pain in his joints.  He felt her pulse and found it to be almost non-existent.  Focusing on her injuries he saw that she was if anything worse then he was.  A broken rip was piercing her side.  Her femur was snapped off at her left hip and was protruding out of her leg and up past her side.  'I need to give her the last one after I give one to myself.'  He thought as he grabbed the pouch off of her hip.

Wincing and gasping in pain, he opened the pouch and tipped poured out the continence.

One bean fell out.  

'One!  Only One!'  He gasped in anguish, as he wanted to cry out.  He almost sobbed but it hurt too much.  'I had three left!  There should be two.'

Roshi weighted his options.  He knew that she was mad at him for some reason.  He knew that because of her these men had come to the Earth.  He knew that he shouldn't feel the least bit sorry for her.  But he could not even after everything that happened eat that final bean and then watch her die.  Every life had value and to value your own at the expense of others was a sin beyond thought to Roshi.

He forced her to swallow it.

* * *

Ichigo woke with something pressing on her neck.  She reflexively grabbed it to toss it away.  Then she realized that it was someone's arm.

Startled, She jumped up.  "You"!! She gasped, 'What is that stupid jerk doing?'  She thought.  She jumped back and started to charge a ki blast to finish the jerk off when he suddenly dove at her.

"Watch out!!"  He yelled slamming into her and pushing her out of the way of a huge ki blast.

She rolled to her feet and turned to see what had thrown the blast at them.  Durian walked up laughing.

"So you are awake again.  I don't know how you seem to be able to heal from certain death so easily, but this time you won't escape.  Your protector can't protect you now."  He laughed.

Ichigo turned to see Roshi sprawled out unconscious where he had fallen after pushing her away.

Then she realized what Durian had meant by his comment.

"HE was NOT my protector!  I would Never sink to such a level.  I would never mate with the likes of a traitor like him OR YOU!"  She screamed in rage as she launched herself at Durian.

Durian laughed and knocked her away like a flea.

"Give up!  You have no chance of beating me!"  He bellowed

"I will never give up!" She screamed as she shot a ki blast upwards at him.

"Yiahh" He yelled as he knocked the beam away harmlessly.  "Surrender, I might let you live long enough to see your father again before you die!"

That comment brought her up short.  "What do you mean you might let me live long enough to see my father?!!"

"Banana lied to you.  Blizzard captured your father alive and is slowly torturing him to death for pleasure."  Durian smiled as he pulled his fist back to knock her out of the sky.  Trying to keep her frazzled he continued.  "I may even give you the pleasure of my company on the way back as so you know what it is to be with a man."  He said laughing.

"YOU DISGUSTING PERVERT!!!"  Ichigo wailed as she dodged under his fist and then flew in to deliver an uppercut Ki Punch to his groin.

Durian collapsed in pain. 

"That was for even suggesting such a thing."  She started to charge a ball of light blue ki above her head.  "This is for what you did earlier today!"  She said as she threw the ball at him.

It blew up gouging a chunk out of his arm, but did not kill him as she had hoped it would.

Durian recovered quickly enough and hit her with a Rot Beam.  It sent her tumbling away.  Durian raced after her.

"Give up, you don't stand a chance!" he said staring down at him as his head eclipsed the moon.

"If you really believe that, Don't move!" She yelled as she got up. 'If I can't use the moon to become an Ouzaru, why should you?'  She thought to her self as she started to charge her attack. 'Might as well use the jerks favorite toy, seems to work for him.'

"KA..ME..HA..ME..HA!!!"  She yelled throwing her spinning version of the Kamehameha right at Durian's head.

Upon seeing the blue light gather in her hands as she charged the attack and then hearing her chant Durian paused for a moment.  'That is the attack that beat my Rot Beam!' Realizing it was too late to counter attack and not truthfully knowing how strong Ichigo may actually be, he was not about to just stand there like and idiot and take it.  He jumped back mere moments before the beam would have hit him.

"You missed!  It is over now!"  He yelled as he started to charge a beam between his massive hands.

Ichigo laughed as the entire sky lit up for a moment.  "No I didn't, and yes, It is over."  She said pointing.

Durian turned to look at what she was pointing at in time to see the impact flash die away and the moon start to rip apart.  He felt the pull of the moon on his body lessen and then disappear.

"NOOOOOOooooo!!!"  Was all he could yell as he faded out of consciousness as his Ouzaru transformation ended.

Ichigo calmly walked over and booted him full in the crotch.  "And THAT is for being a Chauvinistic PIG!!

* * *

Slip woke to the sound of alarms blaring.  She frantically looked for a way to silence them.  What she saw took her breath away.  The moon was gone.  It had been destroyed two minutes early.  Slip knew in an instant that she did not want to look at the numbers of survivors.  She had known from the moment Roshi had called her that people would die.  Even if everything went perfect it would take half an hour to evacuate the moon.  They had been given 3 minutes.

Slip looked at the screen.  1,280. One thousand two hundred and eighty people out of FIVE thousand had survived.  She looked at the GKSS and was shocked to see that only the girl she knew as Kinomi was conscious.

'This is all her fault'

* * * 


	25. When survival is not Enough

Chapter 25

When Survival is not Enough

Monday June 16, 

around 10:00 pm

Boxers pulled to a stop so fast that he almost fell out of the sky.

"Hey!  Boxers, what's up?  We need to keep moving!"  Tee shouted as he circled around to fly back to where Boxers had stopped.

"Be quite!  I need to concentrate!"  Boxers barked at him.

Tee pulled up short and just looked at Boxers.  'What's his problem' He thought to himself.

"Tee, can you feel Roshi's ki?  Can you feel it at all?"  Boxers said wide-eyed.

"What are you talking about?  You felt Roshi just a few moments ago.  His power was HUGE!  He is probably just hiding his ki.  Besides, weren't you the one who kept telling me how we need to keep moving?"  Tee shot back giving Boxers a playful punch to the arm.

Boxers started to fly forward again, slowly.  "Tee, I'm not kidding.  Roshi woke Kinomi up and now she is fighting the last Ouzaru, but I can't feel his ki at all!"

"Ah, no big deal.  You know Roshi; he probably is doing something we can't detect.  You get worked up too easily Boxers."  Tee said back.

Boxers shook his head and took off even faster then he had been flying before.  "I hope you are right Tee, but I think you are dead wrong."  Boxers said moments before the moon blew up.

* * *

"Oh Kami No!" Teddy yelled as the display showed the moon slowly disintegrating.

"It seems as though the Saiyan girl who fought me is now fighting with Roshi."  Piccolo said from the back of the room causing Teddy to jump at his voice.

"Piccolo!  I had forgotten you were there!"  She said as she turned to look once again at the screen.

Goshu looked concerned.  "With all the excitement tonight, I forgot to ask why the two of you were waiting for us to land.  I now can guess it has to do with the girl who just blew up the moon?"  He looked at them turning his statement into a question.

"Yes, you can say that."  Piccolo confirmed.

"I hate to interrupt, but since Slip is once again unconscious, I need to get the emergency services moving."  Teddy said before turning back to the computer and shutting off the feed from the GKSS so that she could tend to the rescue efforts.

The three fighters watched her work for several minutes dispatching almost every ship in the solar system to look for survivors or bodies of the dead.

"A terrible tragedy happened tonight, and I can't help but think that it may have been averted if we had not been so stubborn as to block Slip's calls."  Teddy said over her shoulder.  "Anyway, please continue.  I would like to know what information you have.  I can listen in as I work."

"Yes, until Slip wakes back up, you are our best source of information.  Please continue."  Goshu said to the two Namekians.

* * *

Ichigo kicked Durian in the face to wake him.

He opened his eyes with a start and glared up at Ichigo.  "You!" He bellowed.

"Yes me."  Ichigo replied.  "Now, I am going to ask you some questions, and you are going to tell me exactly what you know."

Durian spit up in her face before attempting to roll to his feet and hit her.  "I will never tell you anything!"  He spat.

Ichigo ducked under the slow misbalanced punch and swept his feet out from under him.  He fell flat onto his back.

Ichigo then drove her knee down into his stomach and half straddling him grabbed his left shoulder.  She slowly twisted and applied pressure to the bundles of nerves, muscles, and tendons, which resided directly below the collarbone. 

"AAHHRRGGGGHHH" Durian screamed out through clenched teeth.  He tried to hit her with his free right arm, but she blocked his punch like it was nothing.

His collarbone shattered under the pressure.

"You tried to rape me.  You then tried to kill me.  If you think I am even the slightest bit concerned for your welfare, you are greatly mistaken.  You will tell me what I want to know or I will break every bone in your body.  One at a time."  She said down to his grimacing face.

"First, why come here to kill me.  If Banana really wanted to be king, abandoning the people directly after a conflict is not any way to gain the loyalty of the people."

"BLAHHHH" Durian screamed firing off a weak Rot Beam at her face.

Ichigo back flipped away from it the moment she saw the light start to build in his mouth.  She had been half tempted to break his jaw for the attempt, but moments before her kick connected she realized he would be useless as a source of information then.  She barely stopped the kick short.

Durian was trying to get up again.  She kicked him in the groin once again stopping his attempt dead.  She then rolled him over onto his stomach and reached down to grab his tail.

"Answer my question or I will start at the tip!"  She screamed at him.

"Never bitch!  AAAAHHHHHHHHHH AH AH AH AHHH AH!"  He bellowed and then started whimpering as Ichigo rolled the tip bone of his tail between her fingers crushing it.

Ichigo let the once proud warrior whimper in pain for several moments before once again demanding information.  "Why did you come here!?!"

"AhAHah...  Ba Ba Blizzard ordered us to find and kill you."  He stuttered.

Ichigo was shocked to say the least.  During her fight with Durian he had told her that her father was being held by Blizzard, but she had never thought that members of the Royal Guard would actually be working for the Changelings.

"Have you no honor?  How can you sink so low as to do the bidding of the Changeling slime?"

"Ahhhghh, better to serve a Changeling then let a worthless bitch like you rule us!"  Durian shouted defiantly.

Ichigo broke three more bones in his tail.

"YYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH AH AH AHH AHAHAH!" Durian screamed out in pain.

"My father is still King.  You betray him because of me?"

"awwwhhh ahahah.  Banana told us you were weak and frightened.  He said you ran from you duties and were not fit to lead us."

While Ichigo did agree that she had run, she had done it under orders.

"My father forced me to leave to seek help.  What right do you have to question his orders?"

"You father is a weakling.  He sent you away while leading us to our deaths.  He knew we could not win, so he grasped at legends and superstitions when what was needed was action."  Durian tried to jump up as soon as he finished talking.

Ichigo broke two more bones in his tail forcing him back down on his face.

"Ggaaaaaahhhhh" Durian gasped in pain.

"Is that why you betrayed my father and our people?  Just because you were too much of a coward to hope?  Or was it because of greed?"

"AAAAAHHHH AH ah ah.  I was just following orders.  Just like you were.  The king had been captured.  Banana said he was king.  I was only following orders."

Ichigo's anger grew like a sun going nova.  'He is trying to shirk his responsibility by claiming he was only doing his duty.  He claims his actions were no different then mine.'

She broke another bone and Durian almost passed out in pain.

"Is my father dead?"

"I don't know.  Please don't hurt me I don't know."  Durian wailed.

"But he was captured alive by Blizzard?"

"Yes, but that is all I know.  I don't know anything else!  Banana didn't tell us anything!"

"Then why did you follow him?"  Ichigo demanded.

Durian didn't answer and she broke another bone in his tail.

"Banana at least stood up to the Changelings.  You ran like a coward with your tail between your legs even before the Changelings showed up.  Your way would have killed us all.  At least Banana would have won us time.  Don't question me you bitch!  At least I had the balls to fight!"

Ichigo was very tempted to turn those said balls into bloody goop.  But what he said had touched home.  'Did I desert the people?  Could Banana be right?'  She questioned for a few moments.

'NO! I won't doubt myself.  I may have failed to find the Super Saiyans, but I was doing my duty to my people.  Durian and Banana were only looking after themselves.'

"I was serving the people, you were only serving yourself.  You are a coward, a traitor, and a disgrace to everything our people stand for.  Give me one reason why I should let you live."  She demanded.

Durian actually started to laugh feebly among his coughs and gasps of breath.  "Kill me, in the end it won't matter.  If we don't return the Changelings will come for you.  One way or another you will die.  By killing us you have killed all of us you bitch!"

"At least our people and I will die with dignity then, fighting the Changelings rather then spreading their terror."  She said softly as she kicked him in the back of the head breaking his neck.

Ichigo absentmindedly took to the air.  She was deep in thought about her father and the Saiyan people that she had been entrusted to save.

* * *

Slip had regained consciousness to find her mother directing a rescue and clean up operation from space.  As soon as Teddy realized that Slip was once again awake She and Roshi's father started asking questions.

"Slip, honey, you were telling us about the Girl who attacked and fought with Roshi last night.  Could you continue filling us in on what has been happening on Earth?"

"Um, okay."  Slip replied.  She turned to look at the GKSS and saw that it only showed the Girl flying in lazy circles in the air.  That was not overly interesting, so she shut it off to use the big screen to talk to her mother. 

Slip was about to start filling in the story when the phone rang.  The computer dutifully reported that it was ZTV calling.

'Oh no, not reporters.  I don't think I can handle the reporters tonight.'

"Mom, ZTV is calling.  Do I have to answer it?"  She looked up at her mother with a face that just begged.

"No, I'll take it here.  Just have the computer redirect the call."  Teddy said after a large breath.

Slip redirected the call.

"Hello, this is Ima Gossip from ZTV News.  I am calling about the destruction of the moon.  We have received information that states that someone there at Capsule Corp. ordered the evacuation of the moon mere minutes before it exploded.  Can you confirm this?"  A green-eyed red headed woman asked quickly.

"Um, Yes I can confirm that.  We did attempt to evacuate the moon, but unfortunately not many people were able to escape in time."  Teddy replied.

"Oh well that is just too bad." The woman said while scribbling down some notes.  "Can I ask you who I am speaking with by the way?"

Teddy looked a bit shocked.  EVERYONE or at least almost everyone knew who she was.  Most people noticed when the richest woman on the planet was talking to them.

"Ah, this is Teddy Son Briefs."  She replied.

The reporter's eyes bugged out a bit and then she smiled.  "The President and CEO of Capsule Corp?"

"Yes"

"Oh good!  You may be able to answer more questions then.  Do you know how many people died when the moon exploded?"  The woman asked in anticipation.

"Um, preliminary reports say that only 1,280 out of 5,064 employees and personnel were able to evacuate, but we are in the process of conducting a search and rescue operation.  There may be more survivors."  Teddy said slowly.

The woman grabbed a calculator quickly and punched in the numbers.  "Wow!  3,784 people dead or missing!  That is a lot."  She said with just a bit too much cheer.

Goshu couldn't take it any longer.  "Miss Gossip, what happened tonight was a horrible tragedy.  Those are not just numbers for a statistic or numbers for you to make your big break story out of.  Those were real people that died tonight.  That you could be so callous towards death is unnerving.  That you find joy in it is disgusting."

The woman scoffed.  "Oh, and who are you?  I would like you to know I am just doing my job.  This is a huge news story and I am doing my best to cover it."

"I am Son Goshu, and for your information you could really use some work if that is the best effort you can give the people who died tonight."

"Oh really?  Well, Mr. Son, you are a respected Martial Artist, but seriously I really don't think you are qualified to comment on this story.  That and as a fighter, I doubt you would know what you are talking about, so go away and let me talk to Mrs. Briefs.  At least she can give me information."  The woman said snidely.

Goshu looked like he was about to comment but thought better of it.

Teddy, however, did not keep quiet.  "Miss Gossip" She said getting the woman's attention.  "You're fired."

"What?!?!"  The woman gasped.  "You can't do that!"  She said in outrage.

"Yes I can.  Capsule Corp owns a 54% stake in ZTV.  As such, I am your boss.  Last time I checked that meant I could fire you.  Oh, and put the station manager on, I need to speak with him."

The woman cut off the connection without further reply.

Teddy glared at the now blank screen without word.  When one is the President and CEO of a company that practically ran the world, one usually expects to have their wishes followed.

* * *

Ichigo found Roshi.  He was unconscious in a pool of his own blood right were she had last saw him.

Looking down at him she glared.  'And now I get my revenge on you for everything you have done to me.  I am the princess of all Saiyans and you seek to take that from me.  I am a warrior and you have disgraced me.  I cannot allow you to live after what you have done to me.'  She thought as she charged her right hand with energy.

Her hand crackled with blue-green energy and she was about to fire a beam that would vaporize any trace of the Jerk who had dared to defy her.  'I will not fail myself or my father or my people' She thought glaring down at the source of the largest failures she had received in her life.  'Why does this feel so wrong?' she thought to herself at the last possible moment.

Time slowed.  She thought of all the reasons she had to kill the Jerk.  Having been so deep in thought about her father just moments before, she could not get his comments out of her head.

"The life of a warrior is not easy.  A warrior must be prepared and willing to engage in war at any time.  A warrior must be ready to kill or be killed.  A warrior must not question their actions, but know that in war all honorable actions in the pursuit of victory are correct."  Her father had said to her when she was 13 after she had stormed in complaining that several men had been joking that she was not a warrior.  He had then smiled and shook his head.  "Ichigo my dear, do not let the men get to you.  But remember this.  In a way, they are right."  He held his hand up to stop her comment.  "You never will be a warrior, because you are destined to be a leader."

"While a warrior lives for war, a leader must know that war is not always necessary.  Nor is it always just.  While a warrior finds glory in war, a leader provides hope for all that when war is fought it is just, and it is necessary, and it is a war that can be won.  A leader must rule, and they must rule for all the people, not just the warriors."  He said calmly before he got up out of his chair to kneel next to her and look in her eyes.  

"There are many ways to rule my daughter, but you will find as I have, that many times a true leader a good leader is one who is willing to do the right thing. Not because the right thing is easy, or because the right thing looks good to the citizens, but because the right thing to do is the right thing to do." He had said.  "A warrior fights because that is the only option for them.  You must never allow yourself to view combat as the only option.  Wars bring Warriors glory and in our society that is looked upon as the pinnacle of achievement.  But you must remember that not all of the people are warriors.  And to anyone who is not a warrior, the only thing war brings is death."

He paused before getting up and walking over to a large portrait of Nashi, Ichigo's mother, "Ichigo, as you well know there is seldom glory in death itself.  A warrior cannot be allowed to think of the cost of their actions.  A leader Must Not forget the cost of their actions.  It is one thing to be prepared to kill.  But it is a totally different thing to be prepared to ask or demand thousands of people to die for you.  A warrior is lead by their pride.  A leader blinded by pride is not fit to lead.  Ignore the men.  They are not destined for what you are, nor have they the responsibility you have.  Remember, the right thing to do may not be easy, but that does not make it any less right."  He had finished before sending her off to train some more.

At the time, the words had only placated her anger and calmed her nerves.  Now, however, it was a different story.  All her life her father had held conversation here or there to calm her.  He had given her a lifetime of wise words to shape her.  And now she had had a sudden attack of conscious to remind her. 

She let the energy in her hand dissipate.  "I can't do it.  He saved my life yesterday when he had every reason to kill me because as he put it, it was the right thing to do.  If I were to do this now when he is helpless would make me into the type of monster I came here to save my people from."  

'This does not settle the score between us Jerk, but if I were to kill you know it would be a meaningless death and our differences would never be settled.'  She thought as she reached up to retrieve the senzu been she had hidden in the left cup of her bra.

A wrinkled green man suddenly appeared in front of her.  "Save your Senzu my dear child," he said "I have a feeling you will be needing it yet."

Ichigo had almost fallen over in shock when the man had appeared.  By instinct, she charged her hands with energy and watched as the green man kneeled down over Roshi.

"Who are you and what are you doing to him?"  She demanded.

"I am known as Dende."  The man replied as strange waves of energy started emanating from his hands.  "I am the Kami of this world, and I am healing Roshi.  You do not need to fear me."  He said without even looking up.

Ichigo's pride had been pricked.  "Who said anything about me fearing anyone?!"  She demanded.

The green man laughed.  "Ah yes, the Saiyan Pride.  It has been so long since I dealt with Vegeta that I had almost forgotten how easily you people react."

She was about to react, when the green man interrupted her.  "Banana has awakened, he is coming this way."  He said looking off behind her.

Ichigo spun around to see Banana flying towards them.

"Now you will die BITCH!!!"  He screamed as he fired off a large yellow-orange beam at the three of them.

"HIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEYAH!  She yelled back throwing an even larger beam of the same type back at him.  The beams hit and blew up, lighting the sky for kilometers around with yellow light.

As Banana flew closer Ichigo felt the pain and rage within boil over.  "How dare you!  How dare you attack me!"  She yelled as she took to the air and charged at him.

Ichigo slammed into him smashing her fist into his face and sending him cart wheeling away.

Banana slammed into the ground.  The impact made a small crater and threw dust up to impair Ichigo's vision.

"YEEAH" She heard him yell as two balls of ki flew out of the dust.  Neither one was directed anywhere near her, so she ignored them and threw a Star Ripper into the dust cloud.

The dust cleared to reveal Banana with a smashed nose and several cuts on his body.

"I knew you were not fit to rule us!  You can't even kill right you stupid Bitch!"  Banana yelled up at her.  "Your father was soft and look what it got him.  You and your father are pathetically weak.  You don't even have the heart of a warrior!"

"Why YOU!" Ichigo yelled back at him.  She brought her hands back and charged the largest Star Ripper she could.

"Star Ripper!"  She screamed throwing the ball at Banana.

"Masenko!"  She heard Roshi yell from her left moments before a large yellow ball flew into and destroyed her attack.

A strong hand grabbed her arm.  "Kinomi, ak, Ichigo stop this.  Don't you see he wants you to kill him?"  Roshi said to her.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!! She screamed while using her free hand to try to attack Roshi.

He grabbed her other arm and looked her right into the eyes.  "Please, stop this, enough people have died here tonight." 

"I DON'T CARE!! HE deserves to die!" She screamed into his face as she struggled and finally broke free.

Roshi watched as Ichigo charged at Banana and punched  the weaker man in the chest.  His ribcage collapsed and he almost folded in half under the blow.

"biitcc..."  Banana managed to say before he died.

"Does that make you feel better?  He couldn't defend himself and you just simply killed him.  And here I thought you claimed to be more civilized then that!"  Roshi spat at her.

"I didn't kill you when I could have!"  Ichigo shot back.

"Oh and that is supposed to make this right?  I have saved you life no less then five times in the last two days. I suppose killing me for no reason would have been just a bit much for whatever conscience you claim to have!"  Roshi said back.

"Roshi stop this NOW!"  Dende yelled from behind him as he flew up.  "This fight is wrong and you both know it!"

Ichigo turned her back to the two of them, landed, and started to walk away.

"What do you mean this fight is wrong?  She lies to us.  She tried to kill me yesterday, and then attacked me for no reason today.  Then she heartlessly kills that brute for no reason.  While I can't say that I am sad that he is dead, it was unnecessary!"  Roshi practically yelled into Dende's face.

"Roshi calm yourself.  You are both right and wrong, but continuing this fight will only make things that much more grim."  Dende said to Roshi.

"What do you mean?  The fight is over!  All of the brutes are dead.  The people on the moon are dead!  And the people in the village are dead.  How can it get MORE grim then that!?!?"

Dende took a deep breath.  "You are mad because she did not tell you that she was the Princess of the remaining Saiyans.  Just as you fought both last night and tonight to save innocent lives, she came here to save her people.  I have spoken with the Kios.  With the exception of the small group of Saiyans living here on Earth, she is fighting to save all the remaining Saiyans.

"That doesn't mean she can just go kill anyone she doesn't like.  If the rest of the Saiyans are like that they are not worth saving."  Roshi spat back.

Dende shook his head.  "In every group there are some who are evil.  If you were to judge Humanity by the men and women who are locked away in the various prisons, you would not judge Humanity very highly."

"That doesn't make her actions right."

"No, it does not.  But neither does it justify your current attitude.  Both of you have gone through a lot these past few days.  Physical wounds can be healed in a matter of moments.  Wounds of the heart, mind, and soul take much much longer if they can heal at all."

Roshi suddenly remembered what Banana and his men had tried to do to Ichigo.  He shuddered involuntarily.  'He is right, if I had been in her place, I doubt I would have acted any differently.'

Roshi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  "I concede.  You are right; I need to go apologize to her.  But before I go, I get the feeling that there is something that you are not telling me."

Dende paused and slowly shook his head.  "As I said, I have talked to Kiaos.  Ichigo's people are at the mercy of the Changelings.  There only hope is in whatever she finds to help her rescue them.  You, Roshi, You and Boxers, and Tee, and your Father, and my Sons are her only hope."

Roshi almost laughed.  "I have improved more in the past few weeks then I would have ever guessed possible, but I can't beat a Changeling.  I don't know how we can help her."

Dende got a look of determination on his face.  "That is why I am going to take you all to my lookout and teach you what I know of Goku, Piccolo, and the other great fighter's techniques.  I may not be able to fight, but I can train you.  I just hope that I can do it fast enough."

"Why is that?"

"Because, there is a Changeling who is coming here.  If you cannot find a way to beat them, then it is not just the people of the Planet Saiya who are doomed."  Dende said finally.  "Go to her, see if you cannot help to fix some of the wrongs that have been done tonight.  When Tee and Boxers get to you, bring her and them to my lookout."  He said before taking off.

* * *

Roshi looked in awe as Dende flew away.  He let the words that Dende had said soak in. Try as he might, he could not shake the feeling of dread that had settled over him.

'Well, Rome was not built in a day.  I have to start someplace.' He thought as he flew off to where Ichigo had walked.

She heard him fly up.  "Leave me alone.  You have nothing to say which I want to hear."

"No, you may not want to hear it, but you need to hear it."  Roshi said before pausing and taking a breath.  "I am sorry.  I realize that you have been hurt, and I did not think before I spoke."

Ichigo whipped around and glared at him through tear filled eyes.  "I don't know what you are talking about, and I DON'T need your help!  Leave me alone!"

Roshi held his hands up in submission.  "Ok, ok, I'll just go sit under that tree.  Dende tells me that there is a Changeling coming here.  When you are ready to train again, tell me."

Roshi watched as her pupils dilated in the darkness.  "I have to leave here."  She said before she got up and looked around.

"Not without us to help you don't, and we are not done training, so sit down and tell me about your world ok?"  Roshi said after jumping in front of her to keep her from flying away.

Ichigo just mutely shook her head.  "no...  I can't..."

"Well, when you can, I will be here to listen."  Roshi said before sitting down next to the tree.

The two of them sat in total silence for what seemed like forever.  Both of them lost in their own thoughts.  

Then Boxers and Tee showed up.

Tee took a long look over Ichigo.  "Damn girl, do you LIKE fighting in your underwear?"

* * *

Thanks for reading and Reviewing!  The Smooster :)


	26. Anger Unbound, Tears Released, Fate Rema...

Chapter 26

Anger Unbound, Tears Released, Fate Remains

Monday, around 10:30 p.m.

"Damn girl, do you LIKE fighting in your underwear?"  Tee exclaimed.

There was a moments worth of total and absolute silence as the four of them registered what was said.  Suddenly, Ichigo screamed out like a banshee and leapt at Tee.  At the same moment, Roshi tried to jump between her and Tee.  Tee tried to jump to his left, and Boxers just tried to jump out of the way.  

"AAARRRRHHH!!! WHY YOU!!..."

"Kin... Ichigo NO!..."

"Oh, SHIT!"

SMACK!!!  SMACK!! Thud!  

Normal disrespect for physics aside, when four bodies all attempt to occupy the same spot, Newton's Laws still apply.  Tee slammed into Boxers, throwing the two of them forward into Roshi who was spun sideways into Ichigo.  When she slammed into Roshi the impact knocked both Tee and Boxers to the ground.  Roshi was left looking face to face with her in a position that implied that they had been hugging or something.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"  Ichigo screamed before kneeing Roshi in the groin.  

Roshi went down whimpering as Ichigo turned and swept the legs out from under the now rising Tee.  Tee fell to the ground and tried to roll away as Ichigo kicked him in the side and then jumped on him driving her elbow into his gut.

"Guuuaaahhh!!"  Tee gasped before fading into unconsciousness.

Ichigo got up and turned to look at Boxers.  Boxers held his hands up defensively and tried to calm her down, "Hey now, I didn't do anything..."

Ichigo glared at Boxers and then turned to look down at Tee.  "Strip him, I need something to wear until I can get some new clothes."  She said as she turned and walked to the other side of the big Oak tree they were under and sat down.

"Ummm...  Okaay," was all that Boxers could say as he shook his head and started to do what she said.  'Tee buddy, I hate to do this to you, but I would have to say that you deserve it.'

* * * 

Roshi heard the words come out of Tee's mouth.  'Oh! That MORRON!'  He jumped up and tried to stop her from ripping Tee to pieces.  Then he realized that all four of them were going to slam into each other.  An object in motion will stay in motion until acted upon by an external force.  Not even Roshi's reflexes could get him out of the way at the speed that he was moving.  He tried twisted to his left letting his right shoulder absorb the blow of slamming into Tee and Boxers.  Then the punch that Ichigo had been throwing at Tee slipped past his left cheek and she slammed into him.

Roshi looked down into her eyes trying to get a read on just how angry she was at Tee.  What he saw surprised him.  When she realized that she was going to slam into Roshi, her pupils dilated.  Then like it always seems to do, time slowed down.  Roshi felt her slam into him and he felt the impact throw Tee and Boxers off of him.  He saw her mouth slowly open into a startled O.  Then her eyes flashed from their normal Grey-blue to Silver.  

In fighting, Roshi knew never to focus on the person's eyes, because focusing on a person's eyes causes one to stop watching what the rest of their body was doing.  However, eyes function on reflex and never lie.  They show anger, shock, hate, love, and many many other emotions far better than any other means of judging.  Roshi didn't see anger, or hate, or vengeance.  Roshi saw fear.  Pure unhinged fear.

Then she kneed him in the crotch.  

"Ahhhh ooooooooohhhhh ieeeeeeeeeeeahhhhhh"  'Oh, Kami! I need to remember that frightened women fight dirty.  If I can ever stand up again that is...'  As he was attempting to regain some of his composure, he saw her knock Tee out.  Roshi half expected her to kill him then.  When she did not, Roshi almost started laughing when he heard what Ichigo wanted Boxers to do, but that hurt too much.  'Tee, Tee, you poor idiot.  After what has happened tonight you are lucky she didn't feed you your balls.'

* * *

A few minutes later, Ichigo had put on Tee's gi.  Luckily for him, he had been wearing a spandex bodysuit under his gi, so he was not in an overly compromising position.  Roshi was back up, and trying to wake Tee by slapping him gently on the face.

"Tee, if you don't wake up, I'm going to drop you into the lake over there."  Roshi said knowing Tee couldn't hear him.

"Ki...Ichigo, you really didn't need to knock him out quite so deeply."  Roshi said to the tree Ichigo had hidden behind.

"Um, Roshi, what's with you calling her Ichigo?  I thought her name was Kinomi."  Boxers stated.

Roshi sighed and looked up at Boxers.  "Long story, suffice it to say Ichigo has been less than forthcoming about herself."  Roshi got up and lead Boxers over to the other side of the tree where Ichigo was glaring off into space ignoring them.  "Allow me to introduce you to Ichigo Kudamono, Princess of all Saiyans."  Roshi finished with just a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

Ichigo jumped up and glared at Roshi.  "I AM the Princess of all Saiyans!  How dare you question me!"  Tears were streaking out of her eyes as she launched herself at Roshi.  "How dare you call me a liar!"

Boxers watched as Roshi flew backward to avoid her blows, all the while making her madder and madder.  'What on Earth happened to piss her off so much?'

* * *

For the second time of the night, Ichigo cracked.  'HOW DARE HE!?!?!'  Ichigo thought as she lit the sky with fire from her Blaze attack.  "You bastard!! You JERK!! How dare you question me!!  I'M the PRINCESS!  You can't EVER TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!!"  She shot at Roshi like a bullet.  "You have besmirched my honor and I demand restitution!!"  She screamed as she slammed her fist into Roshi's side right over his kidney.  "You will never be King!!  MY family is the rightful leaders of all Saiyans!!"  She screamed as she shot a Star Ripper down at him.  "You will die by my hand before I allow you to take what is rightfully mine!!"  Another ki blast shot in Roshi's direction.  "You have mocked me for the last time!  I will not be toyed with and mocked like a helpless child!"

Blinded with fear and rage Ichigo attacked relentlessly.

* * *

'She is out of her fricking mind!'  Roshi thought as he dodged another attack.  'She isn't rational'  "What the heck are you talking about!?!"  He shouted at her  "I DON'T WANT to be king!"

This only made her madder.  "I'm NOT GOING TO FALL FOR THAT YOU JERK!!  NO MORE TRICKS NO MORE LIES!  I WILL KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME!!!"  She shouted at him as she charged and then fired her version of the Kamehameha at him.

'I need to keep going higher.'  Roshi thought looking down at her as he dodged the incoming beam.  'If I let her get above me right now, she could destroy the Planet!'

"FIGHT ME!! You JERK!  I DEMAND YOU FIGHT ME!"  Ichigo yelled up at him as he dodged several more ki blasts.

'No, I won't fight you.  Dende was right.  Fighting you will only make you believe you were right.'  Roshi thought as he continued to fly away.  'Kami this sucks!  She is so irrational right now, if I fight her it will only make her retreat further into her delusions.'

"Stop running away you coward!!!"  She yelled from below.  "Fight me!"

"No!  I will not fight you Ichigo!  We have nothing to fight about."  Roshi called back to her.

"NOTHING!!! YOU CALL ME AND MY PEOPLE AND MY PEOPLE'S AND MY HONOR NOTHING!!!!  HOW DARE YOU!!!!"

'Kami what do I do?  I can't beat sense into the senseless, but she won't let me reason with her either.'  A sudden thought of inspiration caught Roshi.  'Damn why does it always seem that the good ideas are so hard to do?'

"Fine, I'm not running anymore.  I don't want to fight you, but if you won't see reason I will have to!"  Roshi shouted at her as he stopped to hover near a cloudbank.

Ichigo charged her right fist and hit Roshi in the chin with an uppercut.  Roshi didn't even try to block.  The hit slammed his head back and the influx of ki from her punch burned its way through his head.  Roshi let the force of the blow knock him into a back flip as he flipped around to face her again.

"THERE!  Did that make you feel any better?  Did it?  Where is the honor in this fight?  I don't want to be king.  Why can't you see that?"  Roshi yelled at her.

"I HATE YOU!! YOU STUPID JERK!!  I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!!  Ichigo wailed as she rapidly punched and kicked Roshi.  He took every blow, not even flinching away from any of them.

"WHY?!?!? WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!?!"  Roshi shouted back at her though bloody lips.

"I HATE YOU!! YOU'RE JUST LIKE THE REST OF THEM!!  I WON'T LET YOU MOCK ME AGAIN! I HATE YOU!!!"  Ichigo hoarsely screamed as she nailed him in the face with a roundhouse kick. 

"Just like the rest of Who?!?!"  Roshi spat blood from his broken nose and tried to clear his eyes.  'Dende! Let her see reason.  I can't take much more of this.'

"ALL OF THEM!! EVERYONE!  THEY ALL EXPECT ME TO FAIL!!"  She yelled as she sung her right fist around to smash Roshi in the side of his face.  Roshi caught her fist moments before it would have slammed into his eye and looked Ichigo in the eyes.  

"Who?  Who expects you to fail?"  He asked calmly expecting her to start calming down.  He saw and sensed the sheer wave of fear coming off of her.  Roshi sensed her foot start to move as her mouth fell open in an infernal scream.  Releasing her arm, Roshi barely managed to turn his body enough to cause her foot to slam into his hip with enough force that it jammed the joint.  Roshi gasped in pain as his left leg went numb.  'Note to self... THAT COULD HAVE REALLY HURT!!!  Grabbing, hitting, or otherwise touching her is NOT a good idea!'

"DON'T TOUCH ME YOU PERVERT!!!"  She yelled as she cupped her hands and brought them down by her side.

Roshi saw the tell tale blue light of a Kamehameha forming two feet in front of his face.  'Oh SHIT!'  Roshi thought as he quickly dodged to the left and up.  Roshi did a front flip and let the beam pass millimeters above him.

"NO ONE TAKES ADVANTAGE OF ME!!!"  Ichigo screamed as she caught Roshi's foot and started to swing him around in circles.

'Ok, this has got to stop' Roshi thought as he let his ki flare and brought her spin to a stop.  Looking down at her where she was struggling to force him to keep moving, Roshi once again asked, "Who expects you to fail?"

Ichigo ignored him and continued to attempt to force him to move.  Roshi just used his ki to keep himself firmly stationed.  

"Ichigo?  Are you even listening to me?  Please, tell me why you are so mad.  I can't help you if you won't let me."  Roshi said calmly.

"PERVERT! YOU DON'T WANT TO HELP ME! YOU JERK!!!"  Ichigo screamed giving up on forcing Roshi to move, she used his foot as and anchor to lunch herself up at him.

The moment she started to move, Roshi knew where that fist was headed.  'Oh no you don't' He thought as he folded at the waist and brought his arms down to catch and throw her away from him.

"BASTARD!"  She screamed as she righted herself and flew back at him.

'Agh, this is going nowhere and getting there really fast!' Roshi thought as she slammed into his stomach with an upper cutting Ki Punch.  "Kuah... ack...  Ichigo, please listen to me.  I don't want your kingdom.  I'm not Banana, and I certainly don't have anything but respect for you.  Think for a moment! Why are you doing this?"  He asked as he once again started leading her cat and mouse through the clouds.

"Liar!  YOU'RE ALL THE SAME!!!  I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!"  She yelled back at him.

Roshi had been concentrating on Ichigo so much, that he had not detected Boxers, and Tee approaching until it was too late to do anything about it.  'No, Don't attack her...  To late.'

BLAM!!!  A Masenko slammed into Ichigo diverting her attack.

"What the heck is your problem bitch?!"  Boxers yelled out from where he was flying up to join Roshi.

'Ah no, nothing good can come of this' Roshi thought before rapidly positioning himself between her and Boxers.  "You're not helping you two.  Please let me handle this."  

"No Roshi, I've had about enough of her attitude.  It is time we showed her who's the boss.  Who does she think she is?"  Tee shot back.

"AAAHHHHH WHY YOU PATHETIC WORM!! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME NAMES!!!"  Ichigo yelled as she spun around to face Tee.  "AAAAAAHHHHHH" She yelled out as she started charging an attack.  Pink energy crackled around her body as she splayed her fingers in front of her slightly cupping her hands.  Pink bolts shot between her hands and a large red ball started to grow.

'Oh no!'  "Tee, move your ass!"  Roshi yelled as he flew in front of him and started to charge a Kamehameha.

"KA...ME...HA..." Roshi called out while his aura suddenly flared red.

"PLASMA BEEEAAAMMMMM!!!!"  Ichigo shouted.

"ME..." Ichigo's huge red-pink beam slammed into Roshi.  The beam pushed him down towards the Earth several hundred meters as the ball of energy slowly engulfed him.

"HAAAAAAAA!!!!"  Roshi shouted as the red ball of energy that surrounded him suddenly turned purple and started to move in the opposite direction.

Sensing Ichigo's ki drop, Roshi let his Kamehameha die away so that both beams faded to wisps of smoke at the same time.

Tee never being the brightest bulb in the world took advantage of the situation and flew in to hit Ichigo in the face.  "WHAT the heck are you thinking?  Are you TRYING to blow up the EARTH?!?!"  Ichigo took the blow and slowly turned her head back around to look at Tee.  The look of feral anger on her face was enough to make his blood run cold.  'I am so dead...'

Ichigo pulled her right fist back and charged a Ki Punch.  Tee watched frozen as her fist closed with his face.  At the last second, Roshi flew in and hooked his arm between her side and her elbow, catching her arm and causing her to flip around as his momentum carried her with him.

Ichigo used the momentum to spin herself around and slam her knee into Roshi's back.  She then latched onto his back and put him in a strangle hold.

Boxers had had enough.  He flew up to hit her as hard as he could.  However, when he saw Roshi shaking his head no, Boxers stopped.  He had to do something though.  "Kinomi, or Ichigo, or whatever you name is, what do you think you are doing?  Haven't you killed enough people tonight?"

Ichigo glared at him for a moment.  She then went back to trying to break Roshi's neck, or strangle him, whichever happened first.

"Roshi, what are you doing?  Why are you letting her get away with this?  What is so important that you aren't fighting back against her?"  Tee said as he flew up.

Ichigo had also had enough.  She loosened her hold on Roshi a bit and then shouted in his ear.  "FIGHT ME!!! FIGHT ME OR I WILL KILL THEM!!!"

Roshi coughed a few times and then answered.  "No, you won't.  You would never be able to live with yourself if you did."

"Roshi are you insane?  She murdered almost 5,000 people tonight!"  Tee exclaimed.

Roshi felt her grip loosen immediately.  "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A MURDERER!!!"  She yelled at Tee.  "EVERY ONE OF THE BASTARDS I FAUGHT TONIGHT DESERVED TEN TIMES WHAT THEY GOT!!!"

Tee lost his voice.  Boxers, however, didn't.  "What about the people who were on the moon when you blew it up?  What about what you just about did to the Earth?  WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU ARE TRYING TO KILL THE ONLY PERSON HERE WHO DOESN'T WANT YOU DEAD?!?"

"WHAT PEOPLE ON THE MOON??!"  Ichigo screamed.

"There were almost 5,000 people who died on the moon when it blew up.  Those people on the moon.  What about them miss high and mighty, what did they do to deserve to die?  What did I DO?  WHAT DID ROSHI HERE DO?  HUH?  WELL?!"  Boxers yelled right back.

Ichigo actually looked like she heard what he said.  "I had to.  I Had no choice."  She spat back.

Boxers was on the offensive and he didn't know, or care how close to the breaking point he pushed her.  "What do you mean you had no choice?  There is always a choice.  To fight or to not fight.  To live or to let die.  To save or to destroy.  Did you even try to rip off their tails?  No, I suppose some stupid honor code prevented that.  What made you so important that you can value yourself over so many others?  And you claim you came here to find help to save your people from the Changelings.  You're no different then they are.  You place yourself and your own honor above that of others.  You kept shouting at Roshi about honor.  Where is the honor in NOT doing what you can to save lives?  Where is the honor in letting innocent people die?  Well tell me, where is the honor in killing the helpless so you can survive?"

"I... I..."

Boxers wasn't about to let her think about it.  "And don't even try to devalue those lives because they were humans, cause not all of them were.  Several of my cousins died by your hand tonight.  But I guess you don't care.  They just got in the way of you and whatever it is you saw fit to do, Huh?  So you're a Princess so what!  I hope your father lives a very long time, for the sake of your people that is.  Are their lives as easy to dismiss too?  You sure didn't seem to have any problem fighting those men that followed you here tonight?"

Roshi realized that Boxers was hitting the fears and pains that Ichigo had bottled up and was more or less twisting the knife.  "Boxers! Stop this!"

"You... You're... j ju...just...like th...the r...r...re...st o of them."  Ichigo stuttered quietly through tears before starting to fall in a lazy tumble back towards the Earth.

Boxers looked at Roshi questioningly.  "Roshi?"

Roshi just shook his head.  "Long story..." He said before diving after her.  If she continued to fall the entire way back down to the earth, the impact would kill even her.

Roshi caught her with plenty of time to spare and then quickly landed near a lake in the middle of a forest they had flown over.

Her entire body tensed up the moment he caught her and she was shivering by the time he had landed.

"Put me down."  Ichigo managed to say.

Roshi didn't need to be told twice.  He quickly kneeled and set her down next to a large rock.

"I'm sorry Ichigo.  Do you want to talk about it?"  Roshi said quietly.

* * *

Ichigo was furious.  She was hurt and it was all HIS fault.  The JERK was going to pay.  During the entire fight, all she could think about was all the ways Roshi had belittled her, and mocked her, and threatened her.  And all the reasons she had to hate him.  Then when Tee and Boxers had shown up, she had included them in with the rest of her anger.  Then they had dared to attack her and she reacted completely on instinct.  She was lost in her thoughts.  Lost in her fears, and her worries, and it was all their fault.

Then reality had hit her in the face.  She had killed innocent people.  Part of her didn't care, they were not important.  But part of her remembered how her father had welcomed refugees from other planets overrun by Changelings or plagues or famine.  She remembered why she was really fighting.  Not for herself but for her people's very lives.  She realized just how much of a failure she was.  Both to herself, and to her father, and to her people.  Not even aware that she was falling to her death, she felt Roshi catch her and images and memories of Banana and his goons leering at her and touching her flashed through her mind.

He put her down quickly enough.  Then he did more for her then she could do for herself.

"Do you want to talk about it?"  He asked.  

'Why?  Why did he care?  Why should anyone care?'  Ichigo curled herself into a ball and cried.

* * *

Roshi watched her.  He remembered how she had been crying earlier in the night.  Before Banana and his goons had arrived.  'Dende, I fear I will never understand women.  She is about as stable as a canoe in a hurricane.'

Tee and Boxers landed near by.  Roshi walked over to greet them.

"Long story huh?  Well, looks like we have time."  Boxers said as he looked over at Ichigo.

"Um, Roshi, Boxers, is it just me, or is she bawling her head off right now?"  Tee said loud enough to get a reaction from Ichigo.

Roshi glared at him.  "Is it just me or are there times when you are about as intelligent as an average donkey?"

"You just call me an ass?"  Tee said sounding hurt.

"When the name fits, use it."  Roshi said with a glare.  "Now, come over here, I don't really want to disturb her at the moment."

Boxers looked over at Ichigo.  "Ah, yeah.  Look man, I just wanted her to stop trying to kill you.  I didn't expect her to do this!"

"Well duh!"  Only a cold hearted jerk likes seeing people cry."  Roshi said as he led the two of them down to the lakeshore.  He didn't know about the rest of them, but he was fully intending to catch a fish for his supper before he started to explain a darn thing.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, three large fish were cooking over three equally large bonfires.

"Ok, so are you going to tell us what is going on now?"  Boxers asked as he watched his fish cook.

"I can tell you what I know.  It may explain some of her behavior."  Roshi said as he pulled part of his fish off of the branch he had used to hold it over the fire.  "First off, She is a princess.  I would guess from the way she acts, and from what Banana, which is the name of the leader of the group of Saiyans that attacked us, said, that her family and Vegeta's family once fought over the right to rule the planet Saiya.  Vegeta's family lost."

"The next thing is that the changelings have her father held captive and she feels responsible.  That coupled with the fact that the six Saiyans who came here today came specifically to kill her so they could take over, causes her to be very touchy about her Royalty.  When I stupidly was a bit snide about the fact that she had lied, she took it that I was being snide about her being a Princess and took offense.  That is what set her off.  Well, that and the fact that I claimed that I was rightfully King."

"WHAT?!!"  Both Tee and Boxer's yelled as one.

"Well, I had overheard what they had been saying to her via the communicator that Slip had given her.  So I heard Banana claim he was king because he was the strongest and by ancient law or something that is how they chose the king.  Since I was a good deal stronger then him, I flew in and used the same reasoning to try to intimidate him.  Unfortunately, all that happened was I intimidated her."

"Smart one!"  Tee sneered, happy to have even the smallest verbal jab to send at Roshi.

His comment only reminded Roshi to tell the rest of the story.  "You want to know about smart comments?  You are lucky to still be alive after your stupid comment tonight."

"What do you mean by that!?!"

"Well you were trying to be funny, I know, but when you asked her if she liked fighting in her underwear, I was sure she was going to kill you."

Tee cut Roshi off.  "WELL Sorry, but she didn't look like she had been in a ki blast or anything that would have burned off her gi.  I mean, sure, her bra was cut up and had blood on it, but really, she still had all her hair and stuff, so I just assumed that she had been swimming again or something.  Pardon me for hitting a nerve."

"Tee would you shut up!  This is important!  Actually it is one of the reasons why I was so mad during the fight with Banana and his men!"  Roshi practically yelled in Tee's face to shut him up.  "When I got to where Banana and his men had caught K..."  Roshi rolled his eyes, "Ichigo, they were trying to rape her."

"WHAT!  THOSE FITHY PIGS!"  Tee yelled.

Boxers for his part looked unnerved but didn't say anything right away.  "That's why you weren't attacking her.  She was in shock and attacking her would have only made it worse!  Oh Kami! I'm an idiot!  I just took a girl who was in shock and asked her to question the very things that were driving her nuts in the first place!  No wonder she's bawling her head off."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, you meant well, you just didn't do well on her part."  Roshi said back consoling his cousin.

"I need to go apologize."  Boxers said as he got up to walk back to where they had left Ichigo.

"No, don't" Roshi said.  "Kami talked to me right after the fight.  Right now, what she needs is time to think and find her own peace.  Once she comes around, then you can apologize.  It will actually be heard that way."

"And if she doesn't?"  Boxers said.

"Then we give her more time.  Besides, Dende also said there is a Changeling coming here.  Ichigo's problems are truthfully not our greatest concern right now.  If we can help her we will, but right now, we need to prepare for the worst fight of our lives."  Roshi said with just a bit of finality.

* * *

AN:  Sorry for the delay.  Please Review, your comments are appreciated. 

The Smooster

P.S.  This chapter is dedicated to BigPimpinGohanDbZ  because you thought the last chapter was too heavy on the psychology.  I hope you just LOVED this one… ;)  

Oh on Mr. BigPimpinGohanDbZ's Flame.  I laugh at flames.  I find them funny.  If they are Crude, grotesque, in poor taste, and completely irrelevant I will have them removed.  Otherwise.. Do your worst!! HA HA HA.   

On that, a legitimate review where someone says… "Hey Smooster!  I don't like how you have character A!"  Or " Hey, In the Anime, Buu is dead so why do you have Buu?" (Several of you have commented on Buu.. he will be explained.. give me time.. I'm not to that chapter yet…. ;)  )   Anyway, these are not flames.  These are critiques.  I can't laugh at critiques, but I like them almost as much as a good flame.  Why you may say?  Cause they help me to see stuff that I may have forgotten, or overlooked.  They also help me to fix my writing and make a better story for all of you wonderful readers.  So anyway I guess who knows.  If you can give me a good critique, I may dedicate a chapter to you!


	27. Memories and new Ideas

AN  This chapter is dedicated to ST1 and Achilles.  Thanks guys, you have been faithfully reviewing from the get go!

Chapter 27.

Memories and new Ideas

Tuesday, June 17.  10 A.M.

"Ahhh!"  Ichigo woke in a cold sweat in a strange bed, in a strange room, with strange smells, and it took her several moments to realize were she was.

Clasping one of her hands to her chest she took a deep breath and slowly tried to calm down.  "It was only a dream.  It was only a dream.  I'm fine." she said to herself.  A feeling of unease permeated her.  

Ichigo had not been sleeping well during her mission.  An overwhelming sense of urgency and failure haunted her dreams.  Climbing out of bed, she walked to the big three panel mirror that was between the closet and bathroom.  Closely examining herself, she ran a finger from her forehead down the center of her face.  'No scar, no wound.  It had to be a dream.' Ichigo shuddered.  'I need to go home.  My nightmares are getting worse.  I can't help but shake this feeling of forboding doom.'

Looking around the room, she saw a note stuck to the door of the room, so she walked over to read it.

_Ichigo,_

_There is a new pair of clothes for you on top of the dresser.  Please put them on.  I have the feeling that if you wear anymore of Pan's stuff someone is going to get upset.  My uncle Gotan already saw what you did to the floor in the dining room.  He just about had a mental break down even though I have promised to fix it.  (which I will probably be doing sometime in the next few days by the way, but I am letting you sleep in today.)  Anyway, by the time we got to Dende's last night, he said that what we all needed most was three of four days of relaxation and rest. _

'Who the heck is Dende?'  Ichigo thought.  'And what is he talking about?'  A shiver traveled up her spine as she realized she didn't have any recollection of what he was talking about.  'We trained in that gravity room and then...  what happened last night?' She pondered for several minutes trying to remember, but only images from what she had dismissed as a dream came to her.  Ichigo hugged herself and shuddered.  'What happened last night?  How did I get back here?  I think I fought with Roshi, but... but I don't remember.'  Several images of Banana and his goons and then Roshi claming to be King flashed in front of her eyes.  'No, that was only a dream.  Only a dream!'

_As I agree with him, we took you here and let you sleep in.  I will probably be awake by the time you read this.  However, my mother is less then happy with me, so I am most likely doing the most impossible chores she can think of.  I have taken the luxury of stocking the pantry and refrigerator downstairs.  So, if you are hungry, which I have no doubt you are, help yourself._

_I don't know what you do to relax, but find me, or something to do.  I don't want you to do anything other then the meditations I showed you yesterday, or possibly simple Katas, and remember, Dende is the one who wants us to relax, you may not listen to me, but I hope you will listen to him, since he is Kami._

'Ok, so Dende is Kami which means he is the God of this planet.  And Roshi knows him?  And I have met him?  Why can't I remember this?'

_Once again, I am sorry about what happened last night.  I hope you can find the peace within your soul again.  Once my father and Piccolo and Nail get back we will be training very intensively, so please, rest and relax._

_Son Roshi_

'huh?  What the heck happened to me last night?'  Ichigo shivered.  Then it dawned on her.  'How does he know my real name?  I didn't tell him my real name.'  Ichigo pondered for a few moments.  'Maybe this Dende guy told him.  It doesn't really matter I guess.  I just wish I could shake this feeling of doom.

Ichigo found the Blue and gray gi and bodysuit and decided that she might as well get dressed.  Walking into the bathroom, she paused at the large hot-tub/ Jacuzzi bath.  After a moments worth of pondering, she made up her mind.  'I'll dress after a nice long bath,' she thought taking a deep whiff of herself.  'I stink like that moron Tee's cologne for some reason.'

* * *

Meanwhile, Roshi was busy helping his mother tend her garden, all six hundred and forty plus acres of it. (For those of you who do not know, 640 acres is essentially 1 square mile of land, or 2.58 square km.)

'Dende, let her wake up so I have an excuse to do something else' Roshi thought as he blasted his millionth or so weed into oblivion.  'I really wish mom would hire a gardener.  Having a hobby is nice, but this garden of hers is getting ridiculous.'  Roshi felt Ichigo's ki spike for a moment and then return to a more normal level, for someone who was awake that is.

"Hey mom, Ichigo just woke up, can I go now?"  He asked as nicely as he could manage.

Beth turned to her son and grimaced.  "No!  I don't care if you were saving the world, you were grounded and your father isn't getting you out of it this time!  Besides, I don't like that girl.  You need to find a nice girl in Satan City, not some barbarian space girl!"  Beth said as she bent over to pull out a thistle.

"Mom!  It isn't like that trust me!  That kind of a relationship is that LAST thing that is going to happen.  I just don't think she should be alone right now after what happened last night."  'Oh crap!  I can't tell my mom what happened last night!  She'll freak out and I'll never hear the end of it!'

"Son Roshi!  I know that look on your face.  You're not telling me something.  What is it?  Come on, spill it!  What happened between you and that girl last night?"  Beth said as she got up to walk over to her son.

"Uh... nothing!  Nothing happened between us, I swear!"  Roshi said.  'Like she'll believe that!'

"Roshi..." Beth said with a tone of warning.  "I don't like it when you lie to me.  What happened?"

"Nothing!  At least nothing between the two of us!" Roshi said defensively.

"Ok, fine, I believe you.  So what did happen?  Cause you are obviously worried about her for some reason."  Beth said back.

"Ah, Ah... well um..."

"No stalling to think up a story.  Now spill it!  What happened last night?"

"Well, ah, some Saiyans showed up and they were trying to kill her."  Roshi started.

"I know that!  She blew up the moon and killed all those people.  Dende!  If the media ever figures out what really happened, we will never hear the end of it!"

Ima Gossip had run her farewell story on ZTV last night.  She had claimed that Capsule Corp had blown up the moon and destroyed the town of Homlet in a failed military test.  She had then clamed that she had been fired from ZTV because Capsule Corp was trying to hide the truth.

If there is one thing that humans like more then a good hero, is a good scandal when it involves their heroes.  As everyone knows that the main owners of the CC were descendants of Mr. Satan, they made for a very good scandal.  As of 8 A.M. there was not a single channel that was not airing some sort of theory on the "Moon Incident" as it was being called.

"I know mother, but you have to understand, by blowing up the moon, she probably saved all of our lives."  Roshi protested.

"Both you and your father have told me that, so I guess I have to believe it, but I don't like having a killer so close to me."  Beth said back.

'Oh mother, if you only knew.  My hands are not blood free either.  You may blame Ichigo all you want, but had I not been knocked out, I would have been the one with those lives on my conscience.  I have killed mother.  If you knew that would you still see me as your little boy?'

"And no changing the conversation.  I still want to know what happened last night."  Beth said crossing her arms over her chest and looking over at him as sternly as she could.

'Fine, I guess I will tell you, not everything, but enough to get you off my back.' Roshi took a deep breath.  "Mom, the men who came to kill her also tried to rape her first.  I stopped them, but she didn't take it well.  I think she is in shock.  She also didn't take the fact that there were people on the moon very well."  He finished.

"Oh, that poor girl!"  Roshi was amazed at how fast his mother went from angry dislike for Ichigo to a look of worried pity.  "Those bastards who destroyed Homlet tried to rape her?  No wonder she is in shock.  Oh, that poor girl!"

A little bit of hope flared in Roshi.  "So, can I go?"

Beth looked like she was thinking it over.  "No.  But not for the same reason as before.  That poor girl needs time to think things over.  She may not be open to you right now, and forcing her to talk could only hurt her worse then she is already.  If she wants to talk to you, she will find you."  Beth said with a far away look in her eyes.

"Mom, now there is something you are not telling me.  What is it?"

Beth blushed.  'My baby is growing up to be a hero.'  She smiled surreally.  'First he saves that Mariah girl in school and now this space girl.  Ohhh how romantic.'  She looked over at Roshi and realized that he had asked her a question.  "Oh, nothing dear, just thinking about something."  'If only I could get him to save the right girl.  Neither one of the two he has saved are good enough for my little boy' Beth thought as she started humming to herself while once again pulling weeds.

Roshi watched his mother.  He wasn't certain, but he could swear she was humming "Here comes the Bride"

* * *

Ichigo striped and looked at herself in the big vanity mirror.  "See, no scars, no wounds, no bruises.  It was ONLY a dream."  She said to herself before grabbing the discarded gi to throw it in a hamper.  'That's odd, I don't remember my gi being this silky before.  Must just be cause its coated in my sweat right now.'

Ichigo looked around and found some rose smelling bubble bath.  She filled the bath and sat down to relax.  In no time at all she was serenely relaxing in the Jacuzzi bath.  'Oh this feels so good.' She thought as she absentmindedly tried to rub her back down with her tail.  After a few moments she realized that she no longer had a tail.  'Well doesn't that just spoil the mood.'  Grabbing a (ok, brain fart, what are those puffy scrubber things that come with all the body washes called?  Well she grabs one of those, a pink one ;) ) She tried to use it to massage the tension out of her back.  'This is not nearly as good as a tail, but it works' Ichigo undid her huge tangle of hair and let it soak as well.  'When my hair is wet it weighs a ton' she thought as she grabbed a bottle of shampoo.  'Oh, why can't I stay in here forever?' she asked herself.  'You can't because even now you can't seem to shake that feeling of unease.'  She told herself.  "Why can't I remember what happened last night?"  

After about an hour of soaking, Ichigo used the shower to rinse off and decided that it was time to eat, she was starving.  After using about twenty towels to get as much water out of her hair as possible, (She hated to use ki to dry off, as it dried out her skin and hair.) she put the new gi on and went in search of food.  She let her hair just fall into a mangled mess.  (Think Radditz's hair, only more of it, and longer down the back)

Ichigo spent about an hour eating.  The pantry and kitchen had been well stocked, and she was famished.  'I must not have eaten last night.  I don't think I have ever been so hungry.'  Getting up from the table she saw that it was 12:20.  'Ok, now what?' she asked herself as she walked to the front door of the house.  Opening the door and looking out, she tried to sense Roshi.  'Nope, I just can't sense anything like Roshi, Boxers, and Tee can.  I guess I need more training.'  Having thought this, she decided to go upstairs again and work on her meditation.

* * *

"I don't care if you want to wait for her to come out and be social!"  Slip yelled at Roshi through the vidphone, "I need you here!  That bitch blew up the moon and now the media is trying to eat me alive!  You like to brag about how you do better in school then I do, well come here and help me get the damn vultures off of me!"

"Slip, I would, but I really don't think this is the best time to leave her alone."  Roshi replied.

"Oh, well when is the best time?  Huh?  She hasn't been anything but a pain in the ass since she got here.  She acts like she is some sort of princess and I am sick of it!"  Slip yelled.

Roshi paled.  "Um, Slip, didn't anyone tell you about last night?"

"No, other then my mom, your dad, and the media I haven't talked to anyone since your fight last night!  Why what wonderful new information do you know now?"  Slip asked disgruntled.

"Um, call Tee and Boxers.  Tell them to come to CC.  I will be there shortly.  There is some stuff we need to talk about and I would rather do it in a more secure place."  Roshi replied while grabbing a pen and paper to write Ichigo another note.

"Sure thing.  Just watch out for the media.  They have more choppers flying around, and vans parked out front then I have ever seen before in my life."

"Ok, sure thing!"  'Great, just what we needed, a media frenzy.'

Roshi set about writing his note.

_Ichigo, _

_I know you are awake.  Don't worry, do whatever you want, take your time.  Were I in your position, I would have a lot to think about too.  Anyway, I am over at the Capsule Corp.  If you want to show up over there go right ahead, and come, but be careful.  The media has surrounded CC trying to figure out how the moon blew up last night.  I don't think you should have to face their questions._

_Son Roshi_

Roshi went and put the note on the front door where she would find it when she left the house.

Up stairs, Ichigo could have sworn she heard something, but after a bit of listening, she went back to trying to duplicate her success in meditation from the previous day.

* * *

Roshi arrived a few blocks from the Capsule Corp grounds.  He landed that far away to avoid having anyone spot him flying.  Even after all the years, humanity as a whole did not know about his family's Saiyan heritage.  Or that the "tricks" that Goku and Gohan had done during the Cell Games were not actually tricks.  Heck, whole books of information taught to everyone from kindergarteners to People seeking Doctorates in History never really even touch on Son Goku and his abilities.  Capsule Corp made sure of that.  Any time someone got very close to finding the truth, they would buy the research, and it would go away.  'These people have a dog for their King, but if they knew the truth about us, they would panic.'  Roshi thought as he walked past several reporters who were swapping story ideas.

"Here, how about this one?  Aliens working for CC landed near Homlet to demand more pay.  When CC wouldn't give them the money, they destroyed the village and the moon."

"Hey, that is pretty good, but it doesn't answer the questions about that home video that guy in Homlet shot."

Roshi stopped dead.  'Home video?  Oh shit!'  He scooted under the van so he could keep listening in without them seeing him.

"Oh yeah, that video.  I forgot about that.  Hmmm, Ok here, Capsule Corp sent some of their people to fight the aliens.  You know they are descended from Mr. Satan.  Oh, and Ima Gossip said that one of the first people she talked to after the fact was Son Goshu.  I bet they tried to fight the Aliens using some new super weapon they have hidden in those domes.  They missed and blew up the Moon.  Cause the video shows that one guy shooting a blue beam at that one big huge ape thing and then another beam just like it hitting the moon!  It has to be some new weapon!"

'This is bad.  This is very bad.'  Roshi thought.   He then used several Zanzoukens to quickly get to a balcony and into the dome where Slip and the others were waiting.  'Thankfully, most of the reporters are camping around the main dome and not this one.'  He thought as he opened the screen door and walked inside.

* * *

Ichigo gave up trying to meditate.  'I don't get what I am supposed to be doing.  I just can't seem to be able to open my mind like I did yesterday.'  She got up to stretch.  

Creak!  On of the floor boards creaked as she stepped on it.  'The floor is loose!  And they act like this house is so special.  They don't even take care of it!'  Ichigo thought as she bent down to look at the loose board.  Looking at it she saw a notch that was carved neatly in the side of one of the board.  'That looks interesting.'  She thought as she looked around for something to use to pry the board up.  'It looks just like the notch in the brick I use to hide stuff at home.'  Finally finding a hook like thing on one of the bookshelves, she pried it into the notch.  The board popped up revealing several books.  Ichigo picked one up and looked at it.  "Memories" the cover read.

"Looks like I found another set of diaries."  She said out loud to herself.

Ichigo opened it up to the first page and started reading.

_September 23, 889._

_My Beloved Ubuu,_

_He died one hundred years ago today.  At least, that is what everyone thinks.  I know better.  Goku is still alive.  I saw him.  I saw him at the Budoukai.  Goku is alive!  I felt him.  Our grandchildren think I am crazy.  They think that I am just a crazy old woman.  Why else would I come back to live here?  Why else would I find all my stuff from when I was a child?  Why else would I find my mother's Diaries, and my Father's journals?  Because I am crazy?  Hardly.  Oh, Ubuu I miss you.  I miss you because you were always there for me.  You always listened.  You always cared.  The only other person who ever cared as much as you did was grandpa.  Grandpa Goku.  Our grandchildren think I am crazy.  They don't understand.  Those diaries and journals are the best records we have of just how great Goku and Dad and Krillen and Vegeta and everyone were.  I'm the only one who remembers them.  I'm the only one left and I am so alone.  I sometimes wonder why you had to die.  You could have lived forever.  You were immortal because of Buu.  But you loved me.  You couldn't see me get old.  So you found a way to separate yourself from Buu.  You wanted to grow old with me.  Everything was going to be so great.  What happened?  Why am I the only one who remembers how great they were?  Ok, so Master Roshi is still alive, but he shouldn't count.  I don't know.  Maybe I am crazy.  I miss you Ubuu.  I miss Grandpa.  I even miss my dad.  I just read his last journal entry.  He shielded me from so much.  I always thought of him as a geek.  You and Grandpa were cool because you could fight.  Dad was a geek cause he chose not to.  Maybe in the end he was right.  Who is to say?  Goku Jr. did well in the Budoukai.  You would be so proud.  I didn't see the end though.  I was busy trying to find Grandpa.  I saw him I just know I did.  It is kind of funny.  I always thought of him as a guardian angel.  Maybe he is.  Maybe he just came back one more time to watch out for us.  What do you think beloved? _

_Always yours,_

_Pan_

Ichigo was intrigued.  She got up and walked into the master bedroom to find the journal she had read the other night.

"March 15, 779."  To say the least, Ichigo was surprised.  'She was over 110 years old.  If the stuff Roshi has said about this planet was right, then that would make her very old indeed!'  Saiyans were long lived, but not exceedingly.  While 110 was not unheard of, it was very rare.  'I wonder if the Goku she was talking about is really the same Goku as the one who appeared in my dream?'

Ichigo flipped to the next entry.

_September 24, 889_

_My beloved Ubuu,_

_I am not crazy.  Goku Jr. found a Dragonball.  He showed it to me today.  He said that a funny man that looked somewhat like he does told him that the rest would be back when the Earth had proven it could depend on itself again.  I am sure that the man was Goku.  I just know it was Grandpa.  It had to be.  Who else would know anything about the Dragonballs? _

_I don't know.  I could wear myself out with worry some days.  I am so much like my grandmother.  But not today.  Today, I am going to see our Granddaughter.  Bulma Jr has something to tell me.  She sounded happy about it too._

_Always yours,_

_Pan_

Reading the diaries and journals gave Ichigo a sense of peace that she had not been able to find while attempting to meditate.  She spent the rest of the afternoon reading from various journals and diaries.  She had always found history to be interesting.  To read first hand accounts of people who claimed to have done the impossible was truthfully a chance of a lifetime for her.

It also gave her time to think about the people she was slowly becoming to think of as friends.

* * *

Roshi walked into Slip's lab.  She looked up and cocked her head to the side.  "Um, Roshi, what happened to your hair?"

Roshi did one of the trademark Son grins, and swiped his hand over his hair starting at his widow's peak and moving on to the back of his head.  He realized that is mop of unruly hair that was normally about 10.5 cm, (4 inches) long was about a cm long.

"Um, well, I guess I sorta burned it off fighting last night.  Dende healed me, and he doesn't do quite as good of a job as a senzu bean.  It'll grow back."  Roshi said grinning like kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"You should have seen him last night!"  Tee exclaimed.  "His hair has grown a lot since then, he was almost totally bald!  It was hilarious!"

"Ha ha, very funny."  Roshi grumbled.

"Right, anyway, what was so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?"  Slip asked.

"Well, we should sit down, it is a long story."  Roshi said.  "That, and we have some more problems that we can deal with after we tell you what happened last night."  

After they settled down, Roshi told Slip about the fact that as far as he could tell, Ichigo was in shock.  That was a bad thing, because they needed her help if they were going to be able to beat the Changeling that was coming to earth.

"Wait!!  There is a Changeling coming HERE?  To Earth?"  Slip gasped.

"Um, yeah."  Roshi said.

"Well, what are you going to do about it?  And why aren't you training now?"  Slip demanded.

"Whoa, there, Dende is going to be training us once my dad and Piccolo and Nail get back.  He said that he wanted to teach the rest of them how to do the Kiao-Ken with my help, and then he would teach my dad and I and Tee and Boxers how do the Fusion dance."

"Oh cool!  That is neat!  Well what about the girl?"

"Well, I was getting to that, actually, from what Dende was saying about the Fusion dance, I wonder why he doesn't just teach it to Ichigo and I, we are a lot closer to the same power level then I am with my father."  Roshi said.

Slip started laughing.

"What's so funny?"  Roshi demanded.

"Did you flunk basic biology?"  Slip asked through tears she was laughing so hard.

"No!  What's your point?"

"HA!  And you claim to be the genius fighter here HA!"  Slip laughed.  "The fusion technique when done right combines two people into one body with a more or less doubling of their combined power right?"  

"Yes, which is why the two of us would be better off.  I don't actually know how strong my dad is, but he can't be stronger then she is."  Roshi said defensively.

"Oh, KAMI, I wish was recording this!"  Slip laughed.

"This is getting very old Slip."  Roshi growled.

"Roshi, think, in normal biology when a Male and a FEMALE combine it is called SEX!!  IT'S called MAKING BABIES!!! HA HA HA!  Oh Kami!  It would almost be funny to see what would happen if the two of you were to perform a fusion dance!" (AN at the bottom)

Roshi sat very quiet for a few minutes.  'Ok, so I forgot about that little fact'

Slip, Tee, and Boxers eventually stopped laughing their collective heads off.

"So, should we continue or are you guys just going to laugh at me until the Changeling gets here?" Roshi said sullenly.

"Ok, Ok, I'll try to stop laughing.  Just keep telling us about the girl.  And I can keep imagining what that FUSION would look like! OH! HA, KAMI need air! Hurts oh it hurts!"  Slip laughed.

"Fine then!" Roshi said and he started telling Slip more about Ichigo.  Starting with the fact that Ichigo was her real name, and that she WAS a Princess.  Not just someone who acted like it.  He then told her how the men who came to kill her had tried to rape her last night.

Slip stopped laughing and turned white.

"Um, Slip, what's wrong?"  Roshi asked breaking off his story.

"Um, you said they tried to rape her?"

"Yes, why?"

"Meaning they didn't succeed?"

"I stopped them before they could do much more then just molest her."  Color started to flow back into Slip's face.  "Why?"  Roshi asked.

"Oh, nothing important for you to know."  She said "So you fought and she ended up blowing up the moon, is there anything else or can we start dealing with all the reporters?"

Roshi knew that Slip was changing the subject, but since it got her to stop laughing at him, he didn't push her.  "Um, sure, we can deal with the reporters, but we may have a problem with that."

"What do you mean?"  Slip asked.  "We just need to threaten to sue them for libel and slander if they don't shut up and leave us alone.  Other then the fact that I ordered the Moon to be evacuated, they have nothing they can prove."

"Ah, yes they do."  Roshi said before continuing.  "There was someone in Homlet who caught part of the fight on home video."

"What!"  Slip gasped.  "Ok, ok, no big deal, what parts?" 

"Um, from what I overheard the reporters gossiping about, the part where I killed the one guy with a Kamehameha, and the part were Ichigo blew up the moon with a Kamehameha.  The reporters are claming that it is a new weapon that we have developed."  Roshi said.

"Roshi, you may be in big trouble.  If the camera is good enough, they may be able to zoom in on your face well enough to identify you.  Then we would have to tell at least part of the truth."  Slip said slowly.

"Why do you think I said it was a problem?"  Roshi countered.

 "Well, lets turn on the news and see what they are saying."  Boxers suggested.

"It can't hurt, but this is really starting to annoy me."  Slip said as she went to her computer to turn it to show the local stations.  After flipping through a few stations, Roshi told her to stop.

"This is Ima Gossip.  Since I was fired from ZTV for breaking this story, I have been picked up by ZNN.  It is my pleasure to bring you up to date on the facts surrounding the Capsule Corp's involvement in the destruction of the Moon and their attempt to block the public's right to know about it."

"I swear, if she says one more bad thing about me or my mother I am going to go out there and beat her to death!"  Slip stated from her chair.

"Now, a ZNN exclusive!  We will now go to an exclusive interview and show the video shot by a Mr. Nosy Mann last night during the attack on the city of Homlet."

The scene shifted to show the outline of a burning town.  The video was muted and a man was answering questions about the events that befell his hometown.

"So, Mr. Mann, what are we seeing right now?"

"Ah, call me Nosy," the mousy looking man said before continueing on his explination.  "Well, I really don't know.  I heard some explosions off in the distance, so I got my video camera and started taping.  I took cover when this huge ape thing suddenly landed in the middle of town.  It breathed flames and lit the buildings on fire!  It was knocking down buildings and eating people!  We shot at it with our hunting rifles but that only seemed to make it madder.  Then another one showed up for a few moments and they started talking to each other.  I couldn't make out everything they were saying, but they said something about the moon, and killing some girl.  Then one of them left, and this guy wearing bright orange clothing showed up.

Roshi looked down at his gi.  "Guess I need to get a different gi for a while."

The man on the TV continued.  He yelled at the big ape thing for a little bit and then watch this."  The man stopped talking as Roshi's Kiao-Ken times 10 lit the screen with a bright red flash of energy.  Several houses fell over in the energy blast and the camera fell out of the man's hands.  The TV showed legs running up and grabbing the camera and turning it around to catch the tail end of the Kamehameha that vaporized most of Papaya.  "The monster thing ate that child and her mother.  Whatever that red and blue light was, it wasn't a trick like those guys that tried to mess up Mr. Satan's fight all those years ago.  It was real. I felt it.  That guy saved our lives.  I have no doubt about it.  He saved our lives."

The interview was obviously not going were Ima Gossip wanted it to go because she tried to redirect it.  "But what about the blue beam that you saw destroy the moon?  What do you have to say about that?  You claim that the guy who saved your town is a hero, but didn't that same beam of blue light blow up the moon?"

"Well, I guess so.  But I don't think that it was on purpose."

"Why do you get that impression?"

"Well here, let me fast forward to where that happens.  There, see there is a big dark outline above whomever it was who shot that beam of light.  I think the person who blew up the moon was trying to kill another one of those rampaging beasts that tried to destroy my town."

"Well then Nosy, what can you say about the fact that the Capsule Corp admits to knowing that the moon was going to be destroyed?  If they knew then it wasn't an accident now was it?"

"I don't know.  This could all be a chance occurrence.  Who knows if that blue light actually blew up the moon or not.  It just looks like it did.  Now I haven't ever seen anyone at Capsule Corp ever do anything wrong as far as I can tell.  Maybe we should let them exp..." The screen went dead as ZNN clamed to be having technical difficulties.

"Figures, the media are just a bunch of sharks.  They don't want the truth they just want a story.  Boxers said.

Roshi looked at Boxers.  "You do realize that the truth in this instance would be the biggest story since Cell?"

"Roshi, it would be bigger, cause it would prove that those weren't tricks during the Cell Games."  Boxers countered.

"Well, what do we do about it?"  Slip asked.

"I say we tell them a story that they will want to buy."  Tee said.  "The man said it himself, the big apes said something about the moon.  We can use that to claimed that they blew up the moon.

"No, I don't think that is wise.  Slip, call your mother and my dad.  See what they say.  We need to make a statement, but I don't think we should claim any involvement with the destruction of Homlet."

"Why not Roshi?"  Slip asked him.

Boxers spoke up first.  "Because, once we make a statement we cannot take it back.  At this point any connection to Homlet will lead to more questions.  Questions that we don't want to answer.  Besides, the man also questioned if the two events were related.  We know that the moon has been destroyed twice before.  Maybe we can just claim that we had a seismic anomaly detected, so you panicked and ordered the evac.  Tell them that you have no idea what was going on at Homlet but that we were not involved."

"Boxers, I don't think that will work either though.   Besides, saying that we were not involved with Homlet makes me feel like I am dismissing the lives of the people who died.  I don't want to do that."  Slip said.

"Slip is right, and that is not what I wanted to do.  Actually, Tee may have the best idea.  Tell them that we detected the Aliens who attacked Earth and determined that they were hostile.  Since our expansive space network had heard of these aliens before, we knew that the rays of the moon drove them insane for some reason or another.  Claim that you started the evacuation of the moon because the first thing that these aliens usually did was destroy the moon.  Then claim that we dispatched forces to deal with them, but those forces did not arrive until well after the fighting was over.  Claim to have no knowledge of who or what the people that fought the Aliens were or where they went to."

"That may just work.  It is sad that after saving so many lives over all the years we have to hide behind so many lies to protect our own."  Slip commented.

"Yeah, I know what you mean.  Hey Tee, Boxers, go get me a new gi, something blue or black, or maybe green.  I need to talk to Slip alone for a bit."  Roshi said looking back at the other two.  

"Yes master, anything else you need master?"  Tee said while repeatedly bowing and patting the floor in front of Roshi's feet.

Roshi kicked him gently.  "Ok, Please will you go get me a new gi?  Get me a green bodysuit with black outer layer.  I think that will look different enough that people might not link me to Homlet."

"Sure thing.  The computer has your size on file right?"  Boxers asked.

"Actually, yeah, I've bulked up a bit in the last few weeks, so I had to make myself a new gi yesterday before I trained you guys.  I'm just glad Slip left the armor lab out, or I would have never found the thing."

"Ok, be back in a few."  Boxers said laughing while he lead Tee from the room.

After they left he turned back to Slip.  "Ok, why did you turn so white earlier?  You know something, now spill it."

Slip looked down at her lap and then shook her head.  "Look, I don't want to talk about it."

"Well if it has to do with Ichigo, you really should tell at the very least her about it."  Roshi commented.

Slip looked up at him for a few seconds, then turned away.  "Look it does, but it doesn't."

"So?"

"Oh, alright!  One of my friends who shall remain nameless was assaulted a few months ago.  I happened to be walking past the alley when this was happening and I just happened to send the assailant to the hospital with a broken back and several other broken bones."  Slip held her hand up to stop Roshi from commenting.  "I know, that was a bit excessive, but I really don't feel sorry for the guy.  Anyway, I can't help but feel the same outrage at any bastard who even thinks about doing such a thing.  And well no matter how much I may want to keep hating what's her name, I can't help but feel sorry for her."

Roshi watched Slip for a few moments.  "And this is a bad thing?"

"Yes!" Slip yelled, "because, if I start to feel sorry for her, I start feeling really evil and nasty about what I did with her tail and well what I was thinking about doing when I thought you had killed her."

"Good"

"Roshi!  You're not supposed to say that!  You're supposed to try to make me feel better!"  Slip yelled indignantly.

"Sorry, but I think what you should feel good and vile because of your actions.  If you don't have regrets, then nothing will stop you the next time.  I myself would prefer there not be a next time."  Roshi said with a sigh.  "I just wish I knew how to get Ichigo to snap out of the funk she fell into."

"Why should you care?"  Slip asked, "It is not like she would care if the situation was reversed."

"Because I do, now do you have any suggestions?"

"Roshi, I really don't want to talk about her."  Slip whined.

"Slip, I understand that you feel bad about doing your research now that we are getting to know Ichigo, but there is a Changeling coming here. If Dende hadn't ordered me to take it easy for a few days, I would be busy training. The media may seem like a problem to you, but unless we find a sure fire way to beat a Changeling, there won't be anyone left on earth to complain. ANY help you might be able to give me concerning her will mean worlds to me. Please?"  Roshi pleaded.  
"I would suggest that you just give her some space for a day or so, and I am sure she will be more apt to be sociable in a few days.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, she is a Saiyan.  Her pride will get the better of her and she will no doubt bottle up all the emotions and things that have happened to her and just pretend that nothing has happened."  Slip said.  "I mean think about it.  Other then to Boxers, Tee, or Myself, do you EVER admit ever having a problem to anyone?"

'Not if I can help it.' "I guess not, but I don't see how that is going to make everything better."

"It won't, but I am willing to bet on her pride any day.  Even though it should, she isn't going to let this effect her."  Slip retorted.

Roshi didn't like her logic, but he really couldn't argue with it.  'I just hope that her pride doesn't get the better of us all.'

* * *

Over at Pan's old house, Ichigo put down one of Gohan's journals and sneezed.  'I never sneeze.  I hope this planet doesn't have any weird diseases.'

* * *

AN  for those of you who want to know what Roshi looks like in more detail.  Ok.. Here Take Gohan when he was SS2 fighting Cell.  Now take his hair, ONLY his hair.  Turn the SS2 blonde Hair black.  Put it on HS aged Gohan.  Give him a Vegetto Style Widow's peak.  Not as pronounced as Vegeta's, but definitely there.  Then make him a bit taller, but not quite as buff (at first) Slightly more buff looking later on.  You now have Roshi.  His eyes are very very dark Brown, but they are not black.  He is 6'2" or 188cm tall.

For Ichigo... well, first you take... hmmm Ok so I don't really have a good example.  Um, she is about 5'9" (175cm), so she is a LOT taller then either Chichi or Videl.  Then take Videl's eyes and make them darker blue-gray.  Then take SS3 hair and make it black.  Put it on her head.  She normally has it in a HUGE braid that comes out of the top of the back of her head like a Genie braid.  It is just MASSIVE this goes down when braided to her butt.  Middle of her thighs when not.  She has a few bangs, that stick out at odd angles.  Ok... there.  

IF any of you people who can actually draw want to take a stab at drawing them go right ahead.  Descriptions of Tee, Slip and Boxers are in previous chapters..  you can draw them to if you want.. I would love to see the picks... Just email them to me ;)

AN:  Some of you may think that Beth is just a BIT too much like Chichi...  I have to say that yes she is... well only that It has been my opinion that ALL mothers are the same.  Way back when I was a wee little 14 year old, I went on a few dates with a girl in my class. My OWN mother was like...  "She is a nice first girlfriend, but you wouldn't want to marry her.  And I was like...  Um 14!!!!! NOT THINKING THAT FAR AHEAD!!!!!  

Oh, about the fusion, I once had an idea for a fic where Goten innocently taught his girlfriend the Fusion Dance as a joke… and well it worked.  And well, interesting things set forth.  Anyway, when the virus ate my computer that fic was lost forever.  If any of you guys wants to write something on that idea... Take it, I would love to read it.  

Enjoy!  Thank you for all your support.  Please read and Review.


	28. The Long Path Towards Hope

This chapter is dedicated to "The Mystic Cetra" because she is taking the time to review EVERY single chapter of this fic.

Chapter 28

The Long Path Towards Hope

Tuesday June 17, around 6 P.M.

After a good deal of discussion, Teddy and his father had agreed that Slip should hold a press conference and tell a tale along the lines of what Roshi had suggested. Roshi had to admit he felt sorry for Slip. Since she had been the one to order the evacuation of the moon, she was the only one who went out and talked to the media. Boxers, Tee and himself had just watched the whole thing from her lab.

The good thing was that most of the reporters bought the story hook line and sinker. Ima Gossip being one of the few who did not. 'She is going to make trouble for us in the future.' Roshi thought to himself as he flew back home.

Roshi was worried. He could still sense Ichigo, but she had never left Pan's old house the entire day. Despite Slip's warning about giving the girl her space, Roshi was worried that something had to be wrong for her to not even leave the house all day.

He landed near the front door of the house and opened the door. He was immediately hit by the sent of lemon pepper chicken being cooked. 'That smells really good. I would have never imagined she could cook' He thought as he slowly walked to the kitchen.

Peering through the open archway between the kitchen and the dinning room, Roshi watched as Ichigo deftly cubed several chicken breasts before throwing the cubes into a large wok that was simmering on the stove. She then stirred some rice and grabbed more chicken to cube all while humming something to herself.

While that was impressive enough, Roshi couldn't take his eyes off of her hair. She had let her hair out and it made her look at least a foot taller as it stood up before gracefully falling down her back down to the middle of her thighs. It had natural looking curly wave to it from being normally put into a braid. 'I have never seen anyone with that much hair. It looks really nice this way. Wait! I did not just think what I think I just thought. If anyone is NOT the right person to think those kinds of thoughts about it is THIS girl. I think I would rather have a bear maul me then... Stop! No more thoughts along these lines' Roshi thought to himself shaking himself out of his thoughts to watch her for a while longer. 'Hmmm, I wonder what Mariah would look like with longer hair.' Roshi stopped and blinked a few times. 'Did I just start compairing Mariah to Ichigo? I'm loosing my mind. I need to go no further then the fact that Ichigo is a liar and a spoiled brat, and would probably be happy to see me dead. There is nothing to compare.' He mentally scolded himself.

Still, watching Ichigo hum, and cook and move around the kitchen with a graceful spring to her step, he couldn't help but have trouble accepting what he was seeing. 'This cannot possibly be the same person I fought with for the past two nights' he thought as he watched her flip the chicken like a French chef "Wow." Roshi said. He was going to say more, but didn't get the chance.

"AHHH!!" Thwack!! Twaaannnngggggg! The knife Ichigo had been using to cube the chicken imbedded itself into the far wall of the dining room.

'Note to self, titanium carbide knives when thrown at several times the speed of sound can and will hurt you' Roshi thought as he barely dodged the incoming knife.

"You! You scared me!" Ichigo gasped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you, but I would have never imagined you would know how to cook. It doesn't seem to be something that they would normally have a Princess do." Roshi said as he cautiously walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, he knows that too." Ichigo said quietly to herself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, it's not important" Ichigo said, pride preventing her from asking what she really wanted to ask. "Well, I do." She replied, "it is not like they could keep me out of the kitchens." She said as she stirred the chicken before adding more lemon pepper and a bit more olive oil. "This oil has a unique flavor to it. There is nothing quite like it on Saiya."

Roshi tried to reconcile the two images he had of Ichigo in his mind. He just couldn't accept what he was seeing. He was at a loss for words.

Ichigo went back to her cooking and added some herbs and touch of chicken bouillon to the rice. "A few years ago, I went trough my Trial of Passage." She said as if that explained everything.

"Your what?"

Ichigo turned and looked at him. "Trial of Passage, you don't know... never mind, obviously you don't." She paused for a few moments to think. "I had to live in the wilds of Saiya for about 8 of your months living off of whatever I could find."

Roshi looked at her incredulously. "You had to do what? Isn't that a bit dangerous?" 'More like almost barbaric.'

Ichigo glared at him. He could tell that even though she was acting differently, she didn't like being interrupted or questioned any more now then she had before. "Everyone who wants to be a warrior does. It is a right of passage, a coming of age. When we are no longer children, and are ready to start our real training. As the Princess it was a requirement, not a privilege."

'Risking your life is a privilege? I know what risking my life feels like, and I would never call it a privilege.' Roshi thought as Ichigo continued, "when I got back home, my father took me to the Sartan preserve and had me pick a choice animal."

She held a spatula up at Roshi to stop his comment. "Before you ask, a Sartan is a very big very rare animal. They have exquisite, unique meat and are therefore incredibly valuable. They are protected, and to kill on without my father's permission is death. Anyway, we took it back and butchered it ourselves and then my father helped me cook it. It is one of my fondest memories." She said with a smile. "Ever since, I have found that when I am stressed or worried, finding something to cook and then eating it helps me to calm my nerves."

Roshi smiled her easy going attitude had put him at ease. Probably too much so. "So that is how you are coping. It makes perfect sense I guess. When Slip gets upset she builds things. Boxers beats stuff up with his sword. Hmm, I don't think I have ever really seen Tee get down about anything. But cooking really makes sense. What better way to calm down then to eat a bunch?"

Ichigo looked at him with a look of offense first and then puzzlement. "Coping with what?" She asked as she drained the oil away from the chicken.

"Well with everything that happened last..." Roshi started to say before he realized what he was saying. 'Was Slip right? Is she pretending nothing happened last night? Will talking about it offend her? Crap, she is acting really weird, but she is at least conversational tonight. I don't want to piss her off again and have a repeat of last night.' Roshi thought frantically. "Well, you know..." He finally said.

Ichigo just looked him in the eye for several seconds. Then, she grimaced, and turned away to pull the rice from the steamer and combine it with the chicken and sauce. Grabbing the very large bowl she had put everything into, she turned and walked into the little breakfast nook that was off to the side of the kitchen. "No, I don't know." She finally said with a sigh.

Setting everything down and grabbing a set of chopsticks, she turned to Roshi. "Look, I don't really like admitting this, but I can't seem to remember anything that happened to me last night. All I can remember is this really terrible dream." She said while clenching her fists.

"Now, I did not plan on cooking for two, but there is plenty of food here. I would greatly appreciate it if you sat down and explained exactly what you meant by my coping since I haven't the slightest idea what you are referring to." She said as she set another plate down across the table from her own.

Roshi panicked, he just looked at the table and the food like it was some sort of deadly trap. 'Oh my god! Kami what do I do? I can't tell her anything! If she really cannot remember anything telling her is going to cause her to flip! If she thinks it was all a dream... well I bet that will make her flip as well. If I tell her no and don't eat with her she is going to be offended and will definitely flip! What do I do? What do I do? Common Dende, What do I do?'

--

Looking down at the world from his lookout, Dende sighed. 'Sorry, Roshi, but you are going to have to figure this one out yourself.' Even after being Kami for so many years, Dende still didn't understand the basic male-female relationship. He hated to admit it, but he was even more clueless as to what either men or women wanted then either sex was. 'Just don't make her flip, that would probably mess up Pan's house.' Dende laughed apprehensively, "And that would make your life just about as interesting as things were in the old days with Goku."

--

Ichigo noticed Roshi sweat drop and cringe. "What, is there something wrong?" She demanded.

"Ah... no... It is just that, well, nothing," Roshi said meekly as he sat down across from her.

The two of them ate in silence for several minutes. 'I hate admitting any weakness, but I need to know what happened last night. Something obviously happened.' A chilling thought hit her, 'maybe my dream wasn't totally a dream. I have to know.'

Ichigo finally decided to just ask Roshi a few questions, after arguing with herself for a while. "Roshi, I need to know what happened last night."

Roshi gagged on his chicken. "Ack, er, um, well, what do you want to know?"

Ichigo glowered at him. She was about to knock the table over on him when she paused and realized that rash actions like that wouldn't help the situation.

'Ok, I need him to tell me what happened, therefore, I need to figure out what I know and what I can ask him.'

'Ok, start with what I know. I know that I woke up in a cold sweat. I know I had dried blood on myself. I know that I smelled like someone had spilled Tee's repulsive cologne on me. I know that I obviously fought someone last night.' Looking at Roshi she realized something important. "Wait, your hair!"

"What about it?" Roshi asked defensively.

"It's..." Ichigo started before stopping to ponder for a few moments. 'I remember Him without hair. But how? He had hair in my dream. Or did he?' Ichigo sucked on her lip for a bit while she tried desperately to fathom through her memories.

Ichigo was starting to feel very cold. She looked up at Roshi and looked into his eyes in an attempt to figure out if she could really trust him or not. 'He had hair when he claimed he was rightfully King. Why do I remember him bald? He was bald when he was... when he... He was bald when he was sitting on my father's throne mocking me, but THAT had to be a dream. I'm so confused.'

Ichigo sat and glared at Roshi for several minutes while she ate in silence and thought.

Roshi had looked away and acted like he was paying particularly close attention to his food.

Ichigo kept right on watching him. 'He avoids eye contact, he glances up and then looks away quickly. He knows what I need to know, but rather then lord over me like he did in the dream he... he looks away in guilt, and... and... compassion?'

Compassion was a foreign concept to Ichigo. She knew what it was of course, but the entire concept that someone could feel sorry for her was hard to accept.

'He didn't seem to be sorry about nearly killing me in our fight two days ago, what would cause him to look like he is feeling guilty now?'

--

Roshi didn't like the way Ichigo was looking at him. It was like she was trying to read his soul or something.

'I can't understand her. She is so... I don't know, but looking at her now it is almost like she looks fragile. I honestly think I like seeing her bitchy and proud then fragile. People like her are not supposed to look fragile.'

Roshi made a furtive glance at her, and found that she was still staring right at him. He looked away quickly. 'Now she's glaring at me which is what I would expect with her personality, but she still seems to be... so very vulnerable. Last night changed her. I don't know what to do. If she thinks that last night was a dream, then what would happen if I told her the truth?'

"You said you were a descendant of Vegeta right?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

"Um, yes, I am"

"Are you his heir? I mean to say, are you his direct heir?"

Roshi blinked a few times. 'Oh shitty shitty shitty... Please don't react like last night.'

"Yes, I am the oldest child of the oldest child all the way back to both Vegeta and Goku."

Ichigo put her fork down and dabbed the corner of her mouth with a napkin before crumpling it into a ball and lowering her fist to the table. This being the first time Roshi had seen her eat at a table, he found that she had far better table manners then he would have expected.

Roshi picked at his food with his fork. He didn't want to look at her at the moment. That and he was used to eating at home with chopsticks, so playing with the fork gave him something other then her to focus on.

"You claimed to be king last night." Ichigo finally said stiffly.

Roshi looked up at her and slowly nodded his head.

"That wasn't a question." She said quickly.

"Oh."

--

Ichigo felt her resolve starting to slip away. She hugged her arms to her chest and tried to calm her nerves. 'It wasn't all a dream. I... I... don't remember what happened. I remember fighting, but... but... I was fighting Banana and I was at home in front of the Palace... I've had that dream or at least dreams like it many times before, but there was a Moon this time and there isn't a moon at home. And then both Banana and Roshi claimed to be King and I fought them both and they were mocking me and... and Banana went Ouzaru, but I couldn't so I blew up the moon...' A cold dread grabbed a hold of Ichigo's heart. 'I blew up the moon, but there were people on it and...'

"We fought someone last night didn't we. I almost died again. Who did we fight?" Ichigo asked surprised at how frightened her own voice sounded. 'Please don't say that we fought Banana.' Ichigo thought as several images of what she had once been sure was only a dream flashed before her eyes. Ichigo pulled her knees up and hugged them to herself.

--

'I'm dead. I am so very dead. She really can't remember, or at least that is the impression I am getting. What do I say? What do I dare to say?... well the truth is always best, but how much of the truth?'

"Well, ah, some Saiyans lead by a man named Banana showed up and tried to kill you. They ended up turning Ouzaru and destroying a village and killing a bunch of people before we were able to stop them." Roshi replied.

Roshi saw Ichigo shudder a little bit before she started talking again. "I take it we both ended up on the receiving end of a few nasty attacks." She said with question in her eyes.

'You wouldn't believe it now even if I did tell you.' "Ah, what makes you say that?"

"Well, I don't feel like I have been in a fight for my life, but you look like you have. What actually happened to your hair?" she said with a slight smirk.

Roshi felt himself slouch and sink in the chair. "Why does everyone think my hair is so funny?" He said rolling his eyes.

"Well it just makes you look funny." Ichigo said quietly.

"Yeah, well, just be glad you didn't end up getting all your hair burned off. You have a lot more of it to burn." Roshi said back trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Ichigo glared at him and reached up to pull at some of her longer bangs, which were neatly framing her face since they were not being pulled into a braid.

"Why don't you get your hair cut? It has to be awfully heavy and just about everyone you fight with grabs it and uses it against you." Roshi said casually.

Ichigo stopped playing with her hair. She glared at Roshi. "My hair is my business! Leave me alone, I will cut it when I darn well feel like it!" She said getting up to shout at Roshi.

Roshi almost fell back in his chair. 'Shit! Hit a nerve with that comment. This is bad.' "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, it is just that..." Roshi stopped dead as she started to glower again.

"Anyway, why do you think you took any big attacks?" Roshi asked trying to get her onto a different line of conversation.

"Are you insinuating that I avoided combat?" She asked turning red.

"No, no, you fought very bravely last night, it is just that you had said that you thought you had taken a big attack and I wanted to know why you thought that." Roshi said defensively.

Ichigo ate in silence for a few minutes. It looked to Roshi like she was trying to calm down and was thinking very carefully about what she was going to say.

"Well, I guess, I don't really know. I am having trouble remembering things." 'Or at least figuring out whether what I remember actually happened or not.' She thought to herself before continuing. "I... I can't even remember truthfully fighting last night. I mean, I have no bruises, or cuts, and I am not stiff or anything, which I would be under normal situations if any of what I think I remember actually happened. But everything that has happened these past few weeks has been right out of some nightmare and with those beans of yours I don't even have any real proof that you almost killed me and I... I... almost think I'm loosing my mind or something."

Ichigo looked up at him pleadingly for a moment before continueing. "I don't have a foundation to base things on anymore. All my life things were the way they were and that was the absolute and they just WERE! But here, things are not, or at least things that should be are not. My entire life, my father was the strongest Saiyan and that was just the way things are. And now... Now I think, no, I know that I am much stronger then he is. I just... I don't know what to believe anymore and that worries me."

Roshi didn't know what to say. 'She's finally opening up and letting me help her. But how do I help her? I can't even imagine what she must be going through right now. What do I say?'

Roshi was glad that she was starting to open up and trust him, but at the same time he felt very guilty because of what had happened to her to force such a change in her personality.

"I'm sorry."

Ichigo looked up at him. "What are you sorry for?"

Roshi sighed and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you over the past few days. You have been through a lot, and I have to admit that I probably put you through a good portion of it by not doing the right thing because of misconceptions or just bad luck."

Ichigo grimaced. "There is no such thing as luck. Luck is a poor name for fate. We can't make our own luck, we can change our fate. Don't call anything that happened luck. It is a crude slight to someone."

Roshi shook his head at her sudden change of subject. "Is that overall Saiyan belief or is that just your personal belief?"

She glared at him for a moment. "It is something my father says to me whenever I am feeling sorry for myself. I grew up knowing I was destined to certain things. At times it was overwhelming, and I would start focusing on the bad things about being who and what I am. My father would remind me that my destiny was caused by the fates that he and my mother caused for me. But just because I was expected to do something did not mean that I always had to do it the way people wanted me to. My life is mine and I had to make the hard choices."

Ichigo looked up and smiled at Roshi, "It kept me from loosing myself in my problems. Which is exactly what I have allowed myself to do now. Thank you for helping me see that."

Roshi held his hands up. "I didn't do anything. I think you just needed a wall that talked back occasionally."

Ichigo laughed freely and smiled at Roshi. "You have a most unique perspective on life."

Roshi decided he like the sound of her laughter. In fact, he liked everything about her current personality. 'If this is how she normally is when she isn't acting all tough and powerful, she may not be that bad. Then again, this could all just be a stress induced alternate personality. I have heard of people having completely differing personalities almost overnight after having been through or seen too much to cope with. Oh, please let this be her normal personality.'

"I just have one more question for you." Ichigo said with a smile. When I woke up, I was wearing a... what is the word? Oh, a gi that looked like the one Slip had me make yesterday, but it wasn't. It bothered me so I looked at it some more today. Where did that gi come from, and why did I smell terribly of that horrid cologne that Tee seems to bathe in?" She was cut off by Roshi's outburst of laughter.

"Oh, Kami, Tee thinks that stuff smells good, I'll have to tell him you said that." He managed through his laughing.

Ichigo also laughed and genuinely smiled. "Yes, well the only thing that I can figure, is that my gi got damaged and I somehow ended up getting another, but that doesn't explain why I smelled like his nasty cologne."

Roshi stopped laughing. "Ah, well, you can say that." He said a bit to quickly.

Ichigo looked concerned. "Why are you looking at me like that? What happened? I deserve to know."

Roshi reached across the table to lay his right hand on her left. "Ichigo..." He began. He didn't get any further. The moment he touched her, she shuddered and the look in her eyes went from puzzlement to fright. She whipped her hand back and hugged herself.

"I... I... want you to leave... Now." She said quietly.

"Ichigo, I'm sorry I don't..." Roshi started to apologize.

"Get away from me!" Ichigo screamed at him while backing away.

Roshi didn't need to be told again. He quickly backed his way out of the kitchen and then out of the house. As he closed the door, he could see Ichigo sitting on her heels hugging her knees to her chest rocking herself back and forth. 'All I did was touch her... She was acting so nice and... and well just nice before. This is soooo not good. If she reacts this way every time someone touches her, it is going to be darn hard to train with her.' He thought as he slowly walked back to his house. 'I need to call Slip. She might know what to do.'

--

"Why are you looking at me like that? What happened? I deserve to know." Ichigo said. She had to admit she didn't like the way Roshi was acting. 'He's hiding something from me.' She thought as she watched him sigh and reach across the table to lay his hand on hers.

Very suddenly, she felt very vulnerable. An icy hand seemed to grab her heart and squeeze as bile filled her mouth and a stabbing chill flowed from her lower back up through her stomach and lungs. Images flashed before her eyes. She couldn't really make them out but they left her with the feeling of helplessness. Being helpless with fear was one of several feelings that flashed through her mind. None of these emotions was she even the slightest bit prepared for.

She felt herself shudder and she jerked her hand back in reflex. "I... I... want you to leave... Now." She said quietly.

Roshi was saying something. It didn't matter, all that mattered was he was coming closer and she didn't want that.

"Get away from me!" She screamed as she hugged herself in fear.

It took her several minutes to control her breathing and to start thinking clearly again. 'I'm hyperventilating. I've never reacted like that to anything. All he did was touch me. Why did I react like that? What happened to me?' She wondered.

The food on the table forgotten, she slowly climbed up the stairs and tried to meditate to clear her mind. It didn't work. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. She couldn't stop thinking about how humiliating that had been. She had been raised in a society that did not allow for such loss of control. 'Why is this happening to me?'

Walking into the master bedroom, she looked at the stack of journals and diaries that she had read through. 'Maybe reading more of these will get my mind off of my problems.'

Walking over to the large bookcase that held Gohan's journals, she pulled out a random journal and opened it more or less to a random page.

_May 8, 774_

_I don't know where to begin. So very much happened yesterday. I guess I will start with what I am thinking of right now. Courage. What does it mean to have Courage? I do not think of myself as a very courageous person. I look back to my younger days and see how much others needed to protect and support me. When I was four my father died the first time protecting me from my uncle Raditz. When I was 6, Piccolo died protecting me from Nappa. By the time I was 7 I had beaten back Garlic Jr., but I cowered in fear when Frieza showed up. When I was 9 my father and everyone put their trust in me to beat Cell. I finally did, but in doing so I had gotten cocky. My arrogance cost my father his life. He died a second time protecting me and everyone else on the Earth and really the Universe from Cell. Because he couldn't be wished back a second time, I blamed myself. Oh, how I blamed myself._

_My father was the most courageous man I have ever met. I do not think he was ever afraid of anything. I myself am petrified right now. Videl saw me go Super Saiyan yesterday. She guessed that one of us beat Cell. So she knows that her father did not. But she is coming here today. I am going to have to tell her the truth. And not just about me beating Cell, but about me being a Saiyan. I knew this day would come eventually. But I really wanted it to come later rather then sooner. After pretending to be what I am not for so long, I don't know if I have the courage to face her._

_My father and Vegeta are sparing. I can hear them. It feels so good to have my father back. The Rou Kaioshin restored him to life yesterday to fight Buu. He had to sacrifice his life so that my father could fight and try to save the universe. I died yesterday too, but I don't think I could ever do what my father, or the Rou Kaioshin, or even Vegeta did when they knowingly sacrificed their lives for other people. Vegeta blew himself up trying to destroy Buu. Even in such dire circumstance I don't know if I could do the same._

_Videl is here. I can hear her laughing with my mother. When I think of Videl, I guess anything is possible. Maybe I have more courage then I thought. It takes courage to admit you are wrong. It took Vegeta eleven years to admit my father was a better warrior then he was. He let his pride blind him, but in the end that had to be one of the most courageous things he has ever done. Maybe if I can just admit my feelings for Videl, I may be able to admit my weaknesses a lot sooner. Yes, I think I will have to. Cause sometimes courage isn't standing up so something like Buu or Cell. Courage is facing the next day. Courage is knowing that no matter how badly you have messed up, there is still something worth living for. Courage is being able to say I love you. Courage is being able to see that if there is anything worth living for, then I guess it is also worth dieing for. Videl is coming up the stairs, I have to go._

_Son Gohan_

Ichigo was weeping. 'Courage is facing the next day' She thought as she reread the entry. 'I cannot face the next day if I don't know what happened yesterday. This Gohan was right; pride does blind people. I hate to admit I ever need help, but I need to know what happened and why I reacted the way that I did.' Ichigo decided.

Ichigo got up and started to go look for Roshi. She decided the first place to look would be his house, if he was not there; she would go to Capsule Corp.

--

Roshi was confused to say the least. 'She goes through mood swings like a clock pendulum. Slip isn't the most stable person either, but this is ridiculous. I just hope Slip has an idea.' He thought as he absent-mindedly turned his stereo on and put in a mix of classical music. 'The past few days have been a nightmare.' Roshi sighed. 'I'm supposed to be relaxing so that I can recuperate, but this isn't helping me prepare at all. If we don't pull a miracle out of some hat it isn't going to matter if Ichigo is certifiably insane.' Roshi sighed, 'Damn it, don't think like that!' He chided himself as he sat down at his computer.

'Shoot, Kit called like four times today. I totally forgot to call Mariah. She's probably thinking I hate her or something.'

Roshi thought about viewing the messages from Kit, or just calling Mariah, but he realized that he would have to explain things to them if he talked to them. Since friends didn't lie to each other, he didn't really want to talk to either of them because he knew neither of them would handle the truth overly well.

That decided, he dialed in Slip's private number on the vidphone on his computer.

"Hello? What do you want?" Slip said sounding exhausted. Roshi had to admit; she had probably had a long day.

"Slip, I need your help." Roshi said. "I think Ichigo has some sort of trauma induced amnesia. From what I can get out of her, she can't really remember what happened to her last night. I think she thinks it was a dream or something.

Slip looked at him for a little while. "And why do you think I can help?"

Roshi paused and took a deep breath. "Well... I thought maybe you would some what know why she might have the amnesia or at least why she is confusing it with a dream. Oh, and what to do about it." 'That and I need help understanding the female psyche anyway, so... yeah'

Slip looked like she would rather eat rotten sardines then talk about Ichigo, but she finally opened up. "Ok, so what do you mean she is confusing things with a dream? What does she think happened?"

Roshi stammered for a few seconds. "I don't really know. She really never said what she thought happened. Just that she couldn't really remember what happened."

"Ok, then what does she remember?"

"As far as I can tell, she can't remember but little snippets of anything past when we were in the Gravity Room. I mean, she remembers little things, but not the full picture."

Slip looked thoughtful. "Ok, I take it you talked to her for a while, how was she acting? Normal? Bitchy? Depressed? Did she seem like she was repressing her emotions? Was she withdrawn?"

"Ah, actually, she was cooking and acting well actually nice. She offered me food, and then well more or less had idle chat for a while. She talked about this survival test thing that she went through while she was younger. I actually got more information out of her just by letting her talk then I have by asking questions previously." Roshi said.

"Wait! She cooked, AND offered you some food? That seems to go against everything she has done previously. Hm, she could be having a split personality thing." Slip typed some stuff into her computer. "Ok, I am running a medical search. One thing I can tell you is that we have absolutely no previous history of a Saiyan ever having any mental problems. Well, with the exception of Goku hitting his head and forgetting his mission to destroy Earth."

"Do you think this might be the same type of thing? Like short-term memory loss do to a concussion? She was thrown around like a rag doll last night."

"Well, It could be. But if it was just short term memory loss, it shouldn't really change her behavior." Slip answered.

"Yeah, well, she was all nice and stuff until I asked about her hair, and then she got all defensive and that seemed like her normal personality. Then she totally freaked out after I simply touched her hand."

"She freaked out when you touched her? Roshi, why didn't you say that first? That may help more then anything else to figure out what is wrong with her."

"Well, I was getting to that, yeah, she reacted like she was terrified of me."

"She probably was."

Roshi sensed Ichigo coming up the stairs. "Hey hold on Slip, she is coming up the stairs now, maybe something is up."

"Right, superbitch is probably just coming to make our lives even more difficult" Slip replied snidely.

Ichigo threw open the door moments later. "I am not a bitch!" She yelled into the room before realizing that Slip wasn't actually in the room. "Oh, it's just you." She said after taking a deep breath.

Roshi quick muted the vidphone so Slip couldn't make Ichigo any madder. "Ah, yeah, thank you for knocking by the way." He said looking at Ichigo to see how she would react.

"Look, I don't have time for this. I need to know what happened last night. No cover-ups, no lies, no leaving out of details. I don't know why I reacted the way I did back when we were eating and I don't like that. So tell me, what happened last night, and why can't I remember it. Once I know what really happened I should be able to figure out what is a dream and what really happened. Plus if I really can't remember parts knowing what actually happened cannot hurt." Ichigo said sternly as she sat down on one of Roshi's chairs.

Roshi glanced at the vidphone. Slip who could hear everything that was being said was emphatically shaking her head no. "Ah, are you sure that that is wise? I mean, there is obviously a reason why you can't remember. You have been through quite a shock." Roshi said calmly.

Ichigo looked at him. She appeared to be thinking. "I don't want to be coddled like a child. I don't care what kind of shock you claim I have gone through, I need to know why I had such a knee jerk reaction to you touching me. If you can't tell me, then I might as well just go back home, because there is nothing that I can gain by staying here like a coward."

Roshi glanced at the vidphone again. Slip had taken to sending text messages over the computer link. "Not my problem if you put her in a catatonic trance by making her remember what her mind is protecting itself from. Amnesia protective mechanism of the brain. Dreams can the brain's way of understanding things it cannot grasp."

'Great, story of my life, damned if I do, damned if I don't.' Roshi thought.

Ichigo wasn't an idiot, she noticed Roshi glancing at his computer. Getting up she walked over in time to read "Yeah, send her home, we don't need the bitch anyway."

Ichigo glared at Roshi. Then she turned to the computer. She was about to try to break the thing, when Roshi quickly shut it off. "Ah, ignore Slip, she still hasn't forgiven you for blowing up her lab."

Roshi realized that that was not the right thing to say as Ichigo immediately grimaced and reached around her back to rub the spot were her tail had been.

"I will never forgive her for what she did to my tail." She said glaring at the blank monitor.

'Kami, thank you for not letting her mention the fact that I was the one who um, removed her tail and gave it to Slip.' Roshi thought, not exactly feeling the best about the situation.

Neither one of them said anything for a while. "What is this music?" Ichigo asked suddenly.

Roshi was taken by surprise by her question and it took him several seconds to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, ah this is Beethoven, um the song is Ode to Joy. Ah... why do you ask?"

"Because I like it. It is powerful, yet soothing." She glared at him threateningly, "why, you have a problem with it?"

"Ah, no, it is just that well it just kind of came out of the blue."

Ichigo seemed to be relaxing as she listened to the music. "Look, this is difficult for me. I don't like admitting I need help, or that I have any weaknesses. So either tell me what happened, or I'm leaving."

"You can't go." Roshi said getting out of his chair.

Ichigo spun around and faced him. "Oh, why not? If you can't help me, there is no reason for me to stick around."

"Because there is a Changeling coming to Earth. If you leave, it will surely catch you before you made it back home."

Ichigo looked out the large bay window and stared off into space for a few moments before turning to look back at Roshi. "So, what's the difference? I cheated death once already by running away from the Changelings."

This made Roshi mad. "What happened to the famous determination that all Saiyans are supposed to have? What, you just giving up? Since when was virtual suicide an option? You going to just go off and die? He demanded.

"No!" Ichigo yelled back. "How dare you question me like that!! I would never just lay down and die, but there is no way we can beat the Changelings. My father sent me to find the Super Saiyans. They don't exist anymore. Enough people have died because of my actions. Maybe if I left the Changeling wouldn't come here. I've been reading the Journals that are over in that house. I have to agree with them. If there is anything worth living for, then it is worth dieing for as well." She said as she turned away from Roshi so he wouldn't see the tears welling in her eyes.

Roshi almost reached out to give her shoulder a reaffirming squeeze, but then remembering what happened just a little while earlier, he stopped. "Ichigo, I didn't mean it that way. You aren't responsible for the people on the moon. You didn't know they were there. And I doubt leaving is going to keep the Changelings from terrorizing any planet they come to. I don't know how we will be able to beat them, but I'll be damned if I let them harm anyone on this planet." Roshi said trying to sound convincing and reassuring.

Ichigo turned and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What people on the moon? I... I..." Ichigo closed her eyes and tried to remember what he was talking about.

"The..." 'Oh crap! I didn't mean to say that. Crap crap crap crap!' "Ah, never mind, it's not important."

"Roshi! What people on the moon?"

"You had better sit down for this." 'I guess, I might as well tell her. If she flips out it won't really make much difference in the long run.'

"I guess I will start at the beginning." Roshi then proceeded to tell her everything that happened the night before. Starting with him listening in on her conversation with Banana and his men, and ending with him knocking her out with another Sleeping Beauty so he could carry her home. Ichigo only interrupted a few times to ask some simple questions. When he finished, it was a long time before Ichigo spoke. The music played through Bach's "Ava Maria" and **"**Toccata and Fugue in D minor" and Mozart's entire "Jupiter symphony." After it got done playing Beethoven's 3rd symphony, Roshi was starting to get worried.

"Ichigo, are you okay?"

"No, but I am reasonably certain that it is a good thing." She said looking up at him with a rather blank look on her face. "You were able to beat three separate guardsmen who had gone Ouzaru." She said quietly.

"Yes, but it wasn't enough. If you had not blown up the moon, we all could very well be dead now." He said back to her.

Ichigo got a far away look in her eyes. "Maybe, just maybe, if this Dende you mentioned can actually train us to do that Kaioken. Then maybe I will be able to save my people." A slight smile and a glimmer of hope formed in her eyes as the music once again started playing Beethoven's 9th "Ode to Joy."

--

Author's Note. Some of you may think that I have Gohan's age wrong. I don't Funmation did. In the Manga's and originally in the Anime, Gohan was 9 when he beat Cell. Making him 16 when he started HS at Orange Star High.. Not 18.

Sorry this took so long. I had surgery on my hand last week and then this week has been horrid.

Thank you for reading.

Please Review.


	29. What was I thinking!

YES!!  I finally got this chapter out!!!  This chapter is dedicated to Kitsune Maxwell, Jade Phoenix, and Dracon.  These three are probably annoyed with me by now.  They have been happily reading this fic since July of 2001 when I actually started working on it.  They have seen multiple versions (as in about 5 or 6 now) and helped to correct huge flaws.  Moreover, they are always there to keep me writing.  Thanks guys! 

Please enjoy the read, and please take the time to review when you are done reading.

Chapter 29  

What was I thinking?!?!

Thursday June 19

About 7 pm

Roshi sat at his desk glaring at the open book before him.  Grabbing his pen, he started writing furiously.

_The Journal of Son Roshi, June 19._

_Of women and sweet smiles or humble tears_

_AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! That is all I have to say right now.  Ok, so it is not all I have to say right now.  What was I thinking?  I swear I am an idiot of monumental proportions.  Ok, this rant is going to mean nothing to me in a few years, so I guess I should start from the top and actually try to make some sense out of why I am ranting._

_It all started on Tuesday.  Ichigo was acting funny.  Funny as in nice.  Funny as in not mad.  Funny as in innocent.  That girl ain't Innocent.  _

_Ok, the real difference was that she was being humble.  I guess it bothered me that someone so arrogant and so proud could be brought so low so fast.  Heck, I still feel responsible for what happened to her on Monday.  Had I not fallen asleep, she would not have had to suffer so badly.  I feel guilty for what happened to her.  I feel guilty for being glad that it has made her more tolerable as of late.  I feel guilty.  I can't stand feeling guilty._

_Moreover, I am the one who saved her life and let her live.  I know that this was the right action, but it makes me responsible for her.  I should have been the one to blow up the moon Monday night.  I knew what that action meant and who would die and the price that would be paid.  She did not._

_So when she humbly asked me to help her on Tuesday, how could I resist?  When she tried to hold back tears and keep her emotions in check, how could I not help her?_

_I had to.  There was nothing else to do.  So I helped her.  And I tried to cheer her up.  And one thing led to another.  And she stopped looking so fragile and humble, and started smiling.  And sweet innocent smiles are anything but innocent when found on her face.  And things happened.  And now my life is over.  _

_I should have known something was up when she agreed to wear those clothes this morning.  I should have.  She just smiled sweetly at me and told me to wait for her.  NOTE TO SELF: When a girl smiles at you sweetly, whether it be Slip, or Ichigo, or Mariah, Kit, or my mother, or Jane Doe or whatever her name may be, RUN AWAY YOU STUPID IDIOT!!!  Sweet smiles get you into trouble.  Sweet smiles are evil and bad and confusing and just downright irresistible.  AND I HATE IT!_

He couldn't think of what to write next.  So, Roshi put down his pen and sighed.  'Why me?  What on Earth was I thinking?' Roshi groaned and flopped onto his bed.  "I wasn't thinking, and that is the problem.  At least my dad will be back tomorrow morning.  Then Dende can start his training and the world can just go on like normal."  He spoke to the poster on his ceiling. 

Roshi closed his eyes and thought about what had happened the last several days. 'What was I thinking?'

* * *

Tuesday,

"Maybe, just maybe, if this Dende you mentioned can actually train us to do that Kaioken.  Then maybe I will be able to save my people."  Ichigo said.

"That is the only thing we can allow ourselves to hope for."  Roshi said back with a smile.

Ichigo was silent for a few minutes.  She then got up and walked over to the speakers.  "Do you have any more music like this?"  She asked, "my people are not encouraged to create works of art and music that seem to be so prevalent on this world.  There is nothing like this on Saiya.  It has such power, yet is graceful and soothing and beautiful."  She said turning back towards the stereo.

Roshi jumped up, "ah, yeah here, you should like this, hmmm, oh and this, and this."  He said grabbing Vangelis "Chariots of Fire", Gustav Holst's "The Planets", a collection of Goa, as well as the memory stick that was currently playing.  "There should be a computer, or stereo that accepts these memory sticks over in Pan's old room."  He said handing her the three memory sticks.

Ichigo took them with a slight smile.  She then sighed as she turned to look up at Roshi.  "I tried to meditate today, but I couldn't seem to focus.  Could you help me now?   She asked quietly.

Roshi was surprised.  She was actually asking for help rather then demanding it.  

"Ah, I would be happy to try, but are you sure that now is the best time for that?  You've been through a lot and I don't know if we should really be pushing things."  Roshi said to her while absentmindedly glancing back to his computer.  'That and I really need to call Mariah and Kit, or better yet just fly into town and see them.  Especially Mariah.  Knowing her, she is probably blowing things way way out of proportion.'  Roshi almost laughed when he caught sight of Ichigo looking at him.  'Then again, the truth in this situation may be worse then whatever Mariah can dream up.'

"I...  I think it would help me if we were to practice now.  I want something to focus on other then what happened last night and the... the dreams I have been having since leaving home."  Ichigo said softly.

'Damn!  Damn Damn Damn Damn Damn!  I owe it to Mariah and Kit to talk to them, but I can't help feeling responsible for what has happened to Ichigo.'  Roshi got up and walked over to the alcove where he kept his Dragonball.  Looking at it for a moment he made up his mind.  'The Dragonballs are not here, so I have to rely on myself.  I cannot forget about my friends, but right now the very safety of the Earth may depend on how well I can train with Ichigo.  Since she is asking for help, and genuinely humbling herself now, I dare not refuse.'   

"Ah, I would be happy to try to help you."  He said turning to walk towards the door.  "Take those back over to Pan's and meet me out in front of the house."

A few minutes later they were standing near a waterfall off in the middle of the woods.  "Ok, I guess I should ask what you are having problems with first.  So ah what are you having problems with?"  Roshi asked.

Ichigo looked like she was having trouble deciding what she was going to say.  "Well, I just don't get what I am supposed to be sensing while I meditate.  I really never meditated at all at home and I am not very good at it."

'This may be harder then I originally thought.'  "Ah ok, just sit down in the grass here so you are comfortable."

Ichigo apprehensively sat down and then looked up at Roshi.

"Ok, ah," 'I don't really have a fricking clue what I am doing.' "Ok, here, close your eyes and after I get done talking block out all sounds.  Relax, let your worries and apprehensions flow out.  Don't think about things, just relax and be at peace.  Listen only to your own breathing and the beating of your heart.  Then once you are at peace with yourself, expand your senses.  Keep your eyes closed, but listen to and feel the life around you."

Ichigo slowly calmed herself.  Roshi could sense her ki slowly ebbing away.  After a few minutes it stabilized and stopped dropping.  Roshi decided that she was right around 3,000 or so.  Since she did not seem to be falling asleep like Tee always did, Roshi slowly walked away and sat on a boulder overlooking the canyon and the lake the waterfall fell into.  The sun was slowly setting, casting the sky in shades of purples, reds, and oranges.  An eagle, one of a pair that Roshi had been watching for many years, slowly circled overhead.  After a bit the crickets started chirping.

Roshi exhaled deeply.  'This is why my family has never moved into the city.  One can never really know what it means to be at peace until they have seen a night like tonight.'

When Roshi caught sight of Venus starting to twinkle in the evening sky he decided to walk back over to Ichigo.  As he approached she opened her eyes and blinked a few times.  Looking over to him she smiled freely.  The moist glint of tears of joy sparkled in her gray-blue eyes.

"I can feel you.  I could feel you sitting over there on a rock.  And there was this huge bird.  I couldn't see it because I didn't open my eyes, but I could SEE it!  It flew gracefully in circles before landing in a nest over there!  It has two babies and then there's a creature of some sort over behind the waterfall in a cave.  It's big and it has been watching us the whole time we were here! And..."

'Oh Dende I've crated a monster!'  Roshi thought as he held his hand up to stop Ichigo's joyous talking.  'Dende, I don't think I can handle knowing another girl who goes off on things as much as Slip.'  Glancing over at the eagle's nest, he realized that he had stopped following it and had not even realized that the pair of eagles were raising young.  Reaching out he found the two young birds just as Ichigo had described them.  'I knew she would catch on to this if I gave her the time, but I didn't expect her to catch on so well.'

Seeing that Ichigo was barely containing herself, Roshi decided to call his "surprise" over to them.  "Icarus, Come her Icarus!"  He yelled out to Gohan's old pet dragon.  The purple dragon flew out from its waterfall lair and landed next to Roshi giving him an immediate tongue bath.  "Ack!  Icarus stop!"  Roshi screamed trying to get away from the dragon.

Icarus had grown over the years.  He was now about 3 meters tall and about 4 and a half long.  Roshi had no idea how long dragons lived, but Icarus didn't seem to be anything other then a hyperactive puppy when one thought about it.

"Ahh, what is that?"  Ichigo screamed as Icarus sat down to look at her as if trying to figure out if she was safe to eat, or at the very least lick.

"This is Icarus.  It is Gohan's pet dragon."

"I thought it was one of those furry brown things you had following you around the other morning.

"Furry brown... Oh, my dogs!  No, but probably just as much of a pet, Icarus is almost one of the family now, he has been around so long."  Roshi said as he climbed up onto Icarus's back and started scratching it.  Icarus almost purred.  After a bit, Roshi held out his hand, "common, climb up here, Icarus can take us for a ride."

Ichigo looked at him with genuine surprise.  She took two steps back and shook her head quickly.  "I... I don't think so."

"Ah, come on, it'll be fun.  Don't tell me you are afraid of a little old dragon."  Roshi kidded.

"It's not that."  She said defensively.  "It just wouldn't be right."

"What's not right?  Having a little fun every now and then?  Look, I know you have been through a lot these past few days, but you also need to relax and enjoy yourself some."  Roshi said still holding his hand out.

Ichigo chewed on her bottom lip.  Roshi had seen her doing that before, anytime she was trying to think something through, she had the unconscious habit of sucking on her bottom lip and biting her lip.  She never actually bit herself to draw blood, but it was a rather odd quirk.  

"Ichigo, I know this is hard, but please, trust me."  Roshi said still holding his arm out.

She looked away as if she was embarrassed about something.  After a few moments, she looked back up and into Roshi's eyes.  "Ok, I guess."  She finally said as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself on behind him.  She sat a good deal back from him and braced herself by grabbing his shoulders straight-armed.

"Ready?"

"I guess."  She said reluctantly.

"Ok, now lower your ki, and try to feel the world around you as we do this.  Do not try to fly, just trust in Icarus."  Roshi said as he tapped Icarus into flight.

Ichigo's hands tightened almost enough to leave bruises in Roshi's shoulder as Icarus jumped off the cliff and swooped straight at the lake in a deep dive.  After about fifty meters, he pulled up sharply and shot over the lake dragging his feet in the water throwing up a mist of water droplets over both Roshi and Ichigo.  Icarus then climbed straight at the North Star.  Ichigo relaxed and actually started laughing as they looped among a few pillow clouds.  At that elevation Roshi could see all the way to Satan City.  With the moon missing only the rare light and the twinkling of the stars lit the ground as they shot over the remains of Mount Frypan and soon reached the Ocean.

Roshi was temped to have Icarus land at Videl's Lookout, but he realized that that was completely inappropriate.  The Lookout held a certain romantic significance.  It was were he was hoping to take Mariah for a picnic on Friday.  As Ichigo shrieked in delight as Icarus looped over a cloud and then spiraled towards the ground, he found he was enjoying the time he was spending with her, but to take those thoughts any further would be completely wrong.  Especially after what had just happened to her.

'Besides,' he thought, 'This is just an attempt to cheer her up.  You mean dirt to her and you had best remember that.  Regardless of what she may be acting like now she is dangerous and would be more likely to rip your heart out and eat it then...  I need to stop thinking about this sort of thing.  Mariah is sweet and nice and smart and kind and happy and stable.  Everything you need and nothing you don't want.'  He scolded himself.

Ichigo leaned forward some and spoke into Roshi's ear.  "This dragon can fly almost as fast as we can."

Roshi turned his head.  "Yeah, he is a lot faster then the Kintoun, but he shows up on scouters, and people who can sense ki can sense him.  That, and the fact that he is a lot more noticeable then a small yellow cloud cause me to use the Kintoun more often, but this is more fun.  Nothing like the wind in your hair and the vertigo of freefall when you don't have your own ki bubble to block the wind, or hold you up."

Ichigo didn't respond, but he could tell by her smile that she was having fun.

Icarus suddenly pulled a wingover and started to spiral towards the ocean.  "Take a deep breath," Roshi warned moments before they dove through the surface of the ocean.  The ocean was dark and Roshi couldn't see much, but after a few moments, Icarus broke the surface and flew over the top of the waves.  Icarus slowed and let a pod of dolphins jump and swim along side them for a while before turning toward home.  

After what seemed like just a few short moments, they were once again on the ledge overlooking the waterfall.  Roshi jumped off and watched as Icarus almost bucked Ichigo off in an attempt to spin around and face Roshi.  "Thanks boy.  Here you go." Roshi said opening up a large drum of chocolate ice cream for the hungry dragon.  Roshi really didn't know what dragons normally ate.  Icarus ate anything and everything Roshi ate.  Long ago, someone had discovered that the dragon had a particular fancy towards chocolate ice cream.

Ichigo laughed at the sight of the purple dragon covering its face in melted ice cream as it ate like a toddler.  She turned to look at Roshi who was distracted watching Icarus eat.  

"Thank you" Ichigo said.  Roshi started to turn to face her.  The next thing Roshi knew, Ichigo had hugged him.  She hugged him and then jumped back mouth gaping open almost as if she was more shocked by her action then Roshi was.

She was standing in the shadows of the trees, so Roshi couldn't tell if she was blushing or not, but he was fairly sure she was.  Ichigo blinked several times and then closed her mouth, "I'm tired.  I am going to bed."  She said as she quickly turned and walked away. 

'What was that?'  Roshi thought as he watched her head back down the path towards the estate too shocked to even move.  'She hugged me.'

It was well past 11 pm when Roshi got to his room to go to bed.  Confused and not overly aware, Roshi never even thought about returning those calls to Kit or Mariah.

Several hours later, he was still pondering that one electric moment.  It would be almost dawn before he fell asleep that night.

* * *

Wednesday 

Wednesday was weird.  There was this thing between the two of them.  Roshi could feel it.  Ichigo didn't want anything to do with him and was back to her old "normal" self.  She didn't want to meditate.  She said that she wanted to spar.  So they spared.  Roshi was trying to take it easy since it was supposed to be a rest day, but Ichigo wouldn't have any of that.  When Roshi refused to pick it up, Ichigo blew up and stormed off to Pan's house.

He followed to see if there was anything he could do, but when he got to the door she told him in no uncertain terms that she would not be talking to him for the rest of the day... She hit him in the face with a Ki Punch.

It was 10 am and his right eye was starting to swell shut.  Roshi walked back to his house and grabbed an ice pack from the freezer.  'What's up with her?  I didn't do anything and she is being a total bitch today.  Heh, probably just her normal personality back.  Since she is no longer in shock she has control over her mindset again.'

Roshi thought wistfully about the previous night.  'Like I warned myself, I need to patch things up with Mariah and stop thinking about Ichigo.  I doubt she even knows what love is.  Heck, if she does know, it is probably one of those things that a "Warrior" such as herself would never be allowed to express.'

Roshi got a hold of Kit's mother when he called her house.  Kit's mother had pure pearly white fur.  A striking woman, one would have thought she was an albino if not for her brilliant emerald eyes.

"Oh, hello Roshi.  Kit said you would probably be calling.  She and Mariah took the day off from work today.  They said they had some girl things to do and that they would catch up with you later.  I'll tell them you called."

"Ok, um, you wouldn't know where they are?  Would you?"  Roshi asked apprehensively.

"Roshi, you know better then to ask that!  They said they were doing GIRL stuff.  I suppose you might find them at the mall.  Kit always said that she thought it would be fun to see what you looked like in a prom dress."  Aiko replied scoldingly.

Roshi blanched a bit.  "She told you to say that didn't she?"

Kit's mother smiled and shook her head.  "You know her well."

"So I take it you won't tell me where they really are?"

"She said that they needed some time alone to sort some things out.  Sorry, that's all I know."

'... Time to sort things out...  Why does that make me want to go hang myself?'  Roshi thought before finishing the conversation.  "Ok, um I guess I will talk to you later."

"Wait just a second.  Roshi, what happened to your eye?"

"Ah, I got hit.  I have been training this summer.  Just think of it as one of the drawbacks of being a Son ok?"

"Ok, just be careful."  She said before ending the call.

'All mother's are the same.'  Roshi thought before getting a funny mental picture of Ichigo with a kid.  'Ok, that is just a scary thought.  I would hate to see the type of mother she would make.'

Unable to dismiss the gut feeling of impending doom, Roshi thought about the nature of mother's and women in general as he finally gave up and found his own mother in her garden.  He spent the rest of the day helping his mother garden, wondering what he had done wrong and what he would need to fix it.

* * *

Thursday (today)

Roshi woke early, as was his practice.  He was in the middle of his morning routine of katas that he had actually faithfully done since childhood unlike some of the other skills his father had taught, when he realized that Ichigo was not in Pan's house.

Stopping his graceful movements, he paused and concentrated on trying to find her.  'My mom is already up weeding her garden.  I should probably go help her.'  He was about to move his search elsewhere when he sensed a very low ki off in one of the secluded areas of the garden.  'I wonder, that can't be her, the energy is too low, but who else could it be?'  He thought as he slowly flew over to where he had sensed the ki.

Ichigo was sitting on a bridge in the middle of his mother's Lily garden.  Water lilies floated peacefully in the koi pond below her and various other lilies dotted the landscape around her.  She was in the process of braiding her hair and look as though she were at total peace.

Roshi landed on the far side of the cove the lily garden was in.  

"Go away."  Ichigo said bluntly as he started to walk towards her.

"No"

"Yes"

"No"

"You will do as I say!"  Ichigo started to get angry.

"Yeah, or what?" Roshi said calmly.

Ichigo turned and glared at him.  "I could hit you in the face again."

Roshi looked at her sagely, "Not likely, now that you warned me about it."  He said with a laugh.

Ichigo glared at him. "Stop grinning at me like that!"

"Like what?"  Roshi asked confused as to what she was talking about.

"Like that!  That stupid lopsided smirking grin thing you always have stuck to your stupid ugly face!"

"Ouch such pain."  Roshi spat sarcastically.  "You know, you can drop the bitch act anytime.  It is getting old.  Heaven forbid you drop you armor you hide behind and actually be yourself like you were on Tuesday."

Ichigo charged at him, "I am not a bitch!"

Roshi stepped back a moment before she would have hit him and kicked her legs out from under her.  She fell face first into the koi pond.

Moments later covered in pond slime and a lily pad or two, Ichigo burst from the water screaming.  "No one treats me like this!  You will pay for this!"

Roshi shoved her forcefully back into the water.  "I know you're not nearly the bitch you act like you are, but you really need to cool down and relax."  He said knowing full well that the mountain fed stream that flowed through his mother's garden was usually just a touch above freezing.  At least it felt just a touch above freezing.

Ichigo came up sputtering.  "You are SO DEAD!"  She yelled throwing a handful of nasty pond mud at him.

Roshi easily dodged it.  "Ahhh is that the best you can do?"  He said with a laugh.

Ichigo bent down and grabbed another handful of mud.  Which she immediately started flinging at Roshi.  He dodged out of the way again only to realize that there was someone walking up behind him.  Turning around he felt mud splatter across his back and he watched in horror as a glob of it slammed into his mother's face as she walked through the archway leading into this section of the garden.

Son Beth fell flat on her back from the force of the mud.  'Oh no!  Nothing good can come of this,' Roshi thought as he ran to his mother's side.  She was unconscious, but as far as he could tell not actually hurt.

Roshi felt Ichigo fly away.  She didn't even say anything.  She just took off and flew away.  'Figures,' he thought as he picked up his mother and flew to his house.

After splashing her with cold water, his mom woke up sneezed and started coughing.  "Ewww, Roshi, why do I have the most disgusting mud up my nose and in the back of my mouth?"  Beth asked before running over to throw up in the wastebasket.  

"Ah, sorry mom.  Ichigo and I were having a mud fight, and you sorta walked into it."  Roshi said apologetically.  

"Oh, a mud fight huh?  Well you're filthy!  Look at that dripping mud on my floor like that!"

"Sorry, I'll clean it up" Roshi said quickly.

"No, I need you to go to town and get some stuff.  Your father will be home in the morning, and we don't have any food around here."

"Ah, ok.  How soon do you need me to run to town?  It is only like 7 am you know, the Farmers Market and some of the other places don't open for another few hours."  Roshi asked.  'I need to figure out what to do with Ichigo.  I can't very well take her to town.  That would be a total disaster.'

"Oh, whenever you get around to it I guess.  I just think you should go hang out with some of your friends.  You have been so serious lately."  She said while looking up at him with one of those parental smile look things.

"Ah, ok I guess."  Roshi replied.  It was all her could really say.

* * *

Roshi found Ichigo sitting on the boulder overlooking the waterfall and lake.  She looked like she had been crying.  She turned away from him as he walked up.

"Is... is she ok?"  Ichigo asked tentatively.

"Yeah, she's fine.  Just needs a nice shower to get the mud washed off."

Ichigo visibly relaxed.  "Good.  I... I've hurt too many people without meaning to."

"No one is perfect.  Like you said, it was an accident."  Roshi said quietly.

Ichigo turned to face him.  "How can you say that?  How can you act like nothing happened?   I tried to kill you at least three times now and you act like nothing happened!  People like you don't exist where I come from.  You defy everything I know."  She finished quietly.

'At least I know we are on the same footing.  If only you knew how confusing you are.'  "I can say it because I know that it is true.  If I were to take offense to everything that ever wronged me, there wouldn't be much of a planet left."  Roshi said back.

This brought a laugh from Ichigo.  "No, I suppose not."

"Look, lets just put this all behind us and start over.  Hello, I'm Son Roshi.  And you are?"  He asked her holding out his hand in greeting.

Ichigo laughed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm introducing myself as if we had never met.  I don't know, it worked in this movie I saw once."  Roshi said with a laugh.

Ichigo looked at him like he was insane.  She finally asked, "What's a movie?"

Roshi sweat dropped and fell over.  "Don't you people have films?  Motion Pictures?  Plays?  Theatre? The spoken arts of any kind?"  He asked incredulously.

"Well, we have historical reenactments, and documentaries, but like I said earlier, the arts are really not given much priority in my culture."

Roshi rolled his eyes.  "You don't say."

Ichigo glared at him.  "I do say."

Roshi held up his hands to stop any further comments.  "That's what I meant.  Sarcasm is also lost on you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's not important."

"I don't care, I want to know what you mean by that!"

"Ok, fine, it is just that you take everything so seriously.  You need to let a lot of things you react to just go in one ear and out the other cause they are not worth getting upset about."

Ichigo looked perturbed.  "Fine.  So since you refuse to actually do any training, what is on the schedule for today?  More wasting time doing nothing?"

Roshi mentally sighed, 'I sure wouldn't call Tuesday a waste of time.  I had fun.  Which of course was the point.'  "I don't know what you are going to do, but I have to go to town and get some supplies and stuff."

"Ok, I'm coming with you."  Ichigo said quickly as she hopped off the boulder.

'oh no you are not!  I don't need a coronary at age 17.' Roshi thought as he backed up and waved his arms.  "Ah, I don't think you would like it much.  Real boring, just getting some food and stuff.  Nothing you would be interested in."

"Can't be worse then sitting around here.  I can't even get your stupid dragon to come out of its hole."  She said pointing to the waterfall.

"Well, I doubt Icarus wants to play with you right now."

Ichigo cocked and eyebrow and looked at Roshi.  "Oh really, and why not?"

"Cause, you stink like fish crap and plant decay."  Roshi said exaggerating her stench by holding his nose.

Ichigo turned an interesting shade of red.  "Like you should talk!  You're the one who shoved me in that smelly pond!"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to bathe in it!"  He said laughing.

"Stop laughing at me you stupid jerk!"

"Ok fine, but you are still not going to town with me."  'You get way too riled up, I don't need some idiot setting you off and getting killed.'

Ichigo looked at him pleadingly.  "Please!  I've been reading those journals, I want to actually see some of the people who live on this dirt ball."

"Oh... fine, just promise not to fly or to do anything that a normal human can't do."  'Roshi that was really really stupid!'

Ichigo smiled sweetly.  "I will do my best."

Roshi forced a fake smile onto his face.  'Why do I get the feeling that your best is not going to be nearly good enough?  Wait!  I have an idea! "Kintoun!"  Roshi called.

"What are you calling that stupid cloud for?"  Ichigo asked getting suspicious.

"Oh nothing."  Roshi said as the cloud stopped right in front of him.  "Get on." He told Ichigo.

Ichigo looked at him.  "I thought we already tried this.  It doesn't like me."

"Try it again."

"Ok, but if it dumps me on the ground I'll have to kick your butt."  She said with a smirk.

Ichigo sat on the Kintoun.  She didn't even sink.  

'Guess that clears up the chance that this could all be an act by her.'  Roshi thought.  "Ok, well get cleaned up, I guess we will leave in about two hours or so."

Ichigo looked puzzled, "ok, I'll be ready."  She said as she jumped off the cloud and started walking back to the house.  She turned around and smiled at Roshi, "and if you leave me I'll just follow you so don't even think about it!"

'So much for that idea.'  Roshi thought.  'That girl is going to be the death of me.'

* * *

Two hours later dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a loose fitting tee shirt, Roshi walked up the steps in Pan's old house.  He was sure he had found a perfect way to keep Ichigo from coming to town with him.  He casually knocked on the door where she was staying in Pan's old room.

"You may enter."

'Regal sounding' Roshi thought as he opened the door.  He looked at Ichigo who was sitting casually on the bed just finishing braiding her hair for the second time that day.  'Oh my god!  That must have taken forever!'  He thought as he looked at her hair.  Rather then the simple braid that she usually wore, Ichigo had braided her hair into what looked like hundreds of little braids no thicker then a shoelace.  She had then braided that into three long braids.  The two outer braids were looped and then tied back to the back of her head in a loose bun thing, with the middle one trailing down her back like normal.

"You can close your mouth.  It is just the way I do my hair for processionals and crap when I know I won't be fighting."  She said with a smirk.

'That looks really good... No! Bad thoughts.  Don't even go there.'  Roshi forced his mouth closed.  "Ah ok, that looks nice, but you can't wear that gi if we are going to town."  He said putting his plan into effect.

Ichigo grimaced. "Well I have nothing else to wear.  Unless you want me wearing my actual battle armor."  She said pointing to the armor and cape, which were lying on the floor in a corner.

"Ah, no.  I am sure we can find something that will fit you in either Pan's closet, or from the stuff my mom used to wear but never threw out."  Roshi said knowing exactly what he was planning on "picking out".

"I don't see why I can't wear this, but alright."  Ichigo said.

'There is no way she will agree to wear this stuff.'  Roshi thought as he grabbed a bright red half-shirt and short sleeved denim jacket from Pan's closet.  "Hmmm, you're too tall for the pants and stuff in there, but these should fit." He said as he handed the shirt and jacket to Ichigo.

She looked at the two items like they were a coiled viper waiting to strike.  "Um..."  She mumbled before Roshi started talking again.

"And we can get you some pants or something from my mom's old stuff."  He said as he grabbed a black leather belt with silver buckle and some red socks from the shelves before walking out of the room.

Roshi was surprised when Ichigo actually followed him to his house and up to the room were his mother kept all the old stuff they never used anymore.  Roshi opened a box and pulling out a denim skirt and pair of running shoes he had put there a few minutes earlier.  "Here, go into the bathroom and try these on."  He said as he handed them to her.

Ichigo chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds.  "Ok, wait for me, I will be back shortly."  She then smiled at Roshi with an odd glint in her eyes and walked out of the room.  

'Oh, I did not like that smile' Roshi thought.  'Ah well, doesn't matter, as soon as she puts all that stuff on, she will freak and refuse to go.'  He thought with a smile.

A few minutes later Ichigo walked out of the bathroom.  The clothes fit her perfectly.  The skirt ended a little above her knees, accenting her long legs.  The half shirt fit like a second skin.  Her slim waist, toned abs, and visible curves made it look absolutely wonderful on her.  The denim jacket matched the skirt and made the outfit look far more modest, plus the denim brought out the blue of her eyes.  She had also from somewhere found red and silver clips and ties for in her hair.  Roshi had to fight to keep his mouth from dropping.  'WOW, she looks really... BAD BAD BAD NO THINK THOSE THOUGHTS... Remember mauled by bear, mauled by bear... She will rip your heart out and eat it without a second thought.' Roshi sweat dropped and audibly gulped.

Ichigo looked down at herself.  "I don't recall Slip wearing anything like this."

"Ah well, that is because she was wearing her lab stuff.  When she actually appears in public she wears stuff very much like that."

"Then why was she wearing those black pants on Tuesday when she was talking to the reporters?"

'Crap, you saw that?  Ah...'  "Well that is because she was trying to be more formal.  This is casual dress."

Ichigo looked like she didn't believe him.  "Oh, alright, I guess I am ready to go then."

'WHAT?!  NO!!! You're supposed to freak out and not go!  You can't come, I wanted to hunt down Mariah and Kit and if you are along then... shit!'  Roshi sweat dropped again.  "Ok" he said meekly.

They were just about out the door when Beth saw them.  "Oh isn't that just adorable!  I need a picture!  My baby is growing up so fast!"

Roshi grabbed Ichigo and flew out the door faster then one can say bye!

* * *

Ichigo ripped her hand out of Roshi's grasp as soon as they were through the door.

"Don't do that!"  She yelled at him as she smoothed a crease out of her skirt.

"Sorry, but I don't particularly want to have a photo shoot with my mother.  We would never get out of there!"

Ichigo glared at him but said nothing.

The flight to Satan City was rather uneventful.  Ichigo stayed behind and below Roshi at all times.  She had mumbled something about perverts after the wind had blown her skirt up revealing the fact that she was wearing her spandex like shorts under it, but really didn't say anything else the entire flight.

They landed on deserted building that the Son family owned just for such use, and walked into the city.

Ichigo didn't say much, but Roshi could tell that she was trying to take in as many sights as she could.  "That smells good," she said as they caught the first whiffs of fresh produce coming from the Farmer's Market.

"Yeah, it does.  Well here we are, the Satan City area Farmer's Market and Fisherman's Warf.  We can get just about everything we need here."

Tony Italia, one of the guys who ran the market and coordinated the various producers and sellers and such, saw the two of them walk through the large gates.  "Mr. Roshi, long a time no see" He said in a heavily accented Italian accent.  "Whata can we do-a for ya?"

Roshi gave him several capsules and a list of produce his mother wanted.  "Here, I need this order filled as best as you can by... three." He said looking at his watch.

Tony looked down the list, his eyes bulging.  "Ia'd be-a happy to try ta fill ya order."  He said with a smile and handshake.  "And would ya be interested in some flowers for the little lady?"

Roshi was sure Ichigo would have hit Tony had he not stepped between then and blocked her hand.  "Ah, no, but I think we will look around and so some smaller shopping for ourselves."

"Ah a yes, so thisa is alla goin for a charity?"  Tony said with a grin.    

'Hmm, does feeding Ichigo count as charity?' Roshi inwardly smiled, "you could say that."  Roshi said with a smile.

Tony left to organize the filling of the order Roshi had given him, so the two of them walked around various booths sampling unique foods and overall just looking at what was to be seen.

While the samples and small amount things that they bought would have more then filled a normal person, it only made Roshi hungrier.  "Well, do you want to get some real food?"  He asked as they walked down the street.

Ichigo didn't even pause.  "Am I a Saiyan?"  She smirked.

"I'll take that as a yes.  Follow me."  He said as he ran into an alley and started jumping from building to building faster then the human eye could follow.

A few minutes later the two of them were in the alley behind Son Chichi's.  One of Goten's granddaughters had been named Chichi.  The original Chichi was still alive at that point and had just been tickled pink that there was finally someone named after her.  Even though the child was all of a year old when her great grandmother died, she was willed all of Chichi's many cookbooks.

Needless to say, Son Chichi's was probably one of the best restaurants on the planet. 

Roshi sneaked in the back door and found Max chopping some celery.  "Hey Max, is the back room free at the moment?"

Maxine Itamae was the current owner of Chichi's.  She put down her knife and looked at Roshi.  "Yes, thankfully it is a Thursday.  If this was the weekend this place would be packed."  Pulling Roshi close she continued, "so, who's the girl and are you planning on actually eating your fill in front of her?"

'Why does everyone seem to think this is a date or something?' Roshi thought.

"I am Ichigo Kudamono, and I don't see why he can't eat his fill in front of me."  Ichigo said from where she stood.

Max grabbed Roshi and drug him into a corner away from the other chefs and cooks.  "Ok, so is this that Saiyan girl I have been hearing rumors about?  I just dismissed them until the other night.  Was I seeing things or did some shmuck manage to catch you on tape fighting an Ouzaru?"

Roshi sweat dropped.

Ichigo walked over and looked at Max.  "Blood Red hair?  Now I think I have seen everything.  I take it that since you realize that that was Roshi fighting and that you know what an Ouzaru is that you are one of his cousins."

Max brushed a hand through her hair and looked at Ichigo.  "Yeah, through Goku and Chichi 500 and some odd years ago why?"

"Just because no one else on this planet seems to know anything about who you people really are."

"Yeah, and we would like to keep it that way."  Roshi said eyeing the various other people who were now watching their conversations.

Max decided that the best course of action was to get them out of the kitchen.  "Roshi, go to the back room, I'll start bringing stuff in a bit.  Oh and you are paying for what you eat."

"I know," Roshi, replied as he led Ichigo to the private dinning room that was usually reserved for small parties and other special occasions.

"Why?"  Ichigo asked.

"Why what?"  Roshi replied as a waiter brought out drinks.

Ichigo waited until the man had left.  "Why do you want to hide who you are?  You could easily have conquered these people and be ruling like gods."

Roshi looked at her sadly.  "And what would that really gain us except more problems?"

Ichigo replied quickly.  "Well you wouldn't have to hide anymore, and you wouldn't have to put up with idiot people like that Ima Gossip person who keeps bashing your family."

Roshi sighed.  "I can see your point, but," He stopped talking as a waiter came in with a large bowl of soup for each of them.  "But, it would also be a huge hassle.  I don't envy your position one bit."  Roshi said calmly.

Ichigo seemed to ponder that and ate silently the rest of the meal.

* * *

After they left Chichi's, there were still several hours to kill, so Roshi decided to take Ichigo to the mall.  'Heck, if all else fails, I can have her pick out more clothes that she would actually like to wear.'  A thought occurred to him, 'I hope Mariah isn't working today.'

Once in the mall, they walked past the central court where a lot of Roshi's classmates hung out.

"Hey moron!  I thought you were hiding under a rock or something."  Rock Snob called from over by the fountain.  He turned to his buddies; Clay Jock, and Mud Petty, and said, "Probably didn't think he could get lucky twice."

'Crap, forgot about the fact that I might run into these idiots in the Mall' Roshi thought as he scanned the crowd.  

"Oh shit"  He mumbled as he caught sight of Mariah.  Mariah sat with Niko, and Carge in a booth over to the side. Tiffany Sweet and Kit soon arrived with trays of food and started to sit down in the booth.

Scanning the crowd, Roshi also spotted Jeff and John Twin, and Jessica Smiles.  Not to mention Kari Snide, Amy Priss, and Jenny Cliché.  

'Great, just the group of people I wanted to run into.  Dende, you are cruel.'

"I haven't paid you back for breaking my nose yet.  Why don't you come out back and let me settle our differences?"  Rock said tapping the nose brace he was wearing.

Roshi ignored him and walked over towards Mariah and her friends.  'Might as well get this over with now.' He smiled apprehensively over at Mariah and her friends.  Mariah waved and smiled at him before seeing Ichigo walk up beside him.  She then blushed, said something to Kit, and started to get up, but Niko and Carge held her down.

Rock whistled.  "So Roshi, where'd you find the babe?"  He asked not trying to hide the fact that he was checking Ichigo out.

Roshi sensed Ichigo's ki start to rise.  'Crap, this is what I was afraid of.'  "Ah, this is Ichigo, she is just a friend."

Mariah blanched sat back down and tried to hide her face.

Roshi looked from Rock to Mariah and Kit and then over to Ichigo.  'One nuclear meltdown coming right up.  What the hell was I thinking bringing her here?'

"That so," Brock said.  "Well then, why don't you ditch the moron and have a good time with a real man."

"Stop leering at me like that."  Ichigo said calmly.

Rock acted shocked.  "Ahh why not babe?  You're fun to look at."

'OH CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!'  Roshi quickly stepped between Brock and Ichigo.  "I wouldn't make her mad, she's one of my father's top students."  Roshi said holding his hands up.

Rock started laughing.  "So what, YOU'RE one of your father's top students, and other then landing a lucky punch, you suck.  You can't do anything athletic!"

Roshi glared at him.  'You have no idea how hard it is to force myself to suck as bad as you think I do at sports.'  "Rock I'm warning you."  Roshi said forcefully.

Rock circled around to get a better look at Ichigo.  She in the meantime actually tried to keep Roshi between herself and Rock.

"Oh look, hiding must be a big skill taught at your dad's school huh Roshi.  I mean, you hide all the time and look at her now!"  Rock said laughing.  

"What are you afraid of Babe?  I just want to have some fun."  Rock said while moving his hand through the air as if he was running it down Ichigo's body.

'NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!'  Roshi mentally screamed as Ichigo forcefully shoved him out of the way to step towards Rock.

"Why you disgusting Pervert!"  She yelled as she took three steps forward.

Rock laughed blew her a kiss and reached out to grab one of Ichigo's braids.

Ichigo flinched.  At least that is what it looked like to everyone except Roshi.  Ichigo flinched and Brock was thrown ten meters back and through a glass display case.  To Roshi it looked like She hit him fifteen times in the ribs and kicked him in the groin to send him flying into the display.

Alarms sounded and people all over the courtyard started screaming.

'I am so very dead' Roshi thought as he quickly grabbed his cell phone to call an ambulance.

Within a few moments, the mall security and some police had shown up.  They were asking questions.  Far too many questions for Roshi's likes.

"Name please?"

"Son Roshi"

The police officer looked surprised.  "Identi card please?"

Roshi quickly fished the plastic card out of his wallet.  The officer scanned it to make sure it was authentic and then almost fell over in shock.

"And this is?"  He said turning towards Ichigo.

Ichigo glared at Roshi and then calmly said.  "I am Ichigo Kudamono, I don't have one of those stupid cards."

The officer looked at her surprised.  "Everyone has an Identi card."

Roshi realized that if he couldn't talk his way out of the situation they were in big trouble.  "Ah sir, actually there are a few small villages that have stayed out of the Datanet.  They don't have Identi Cards.  She is one of my father's students and is from one of those villages over one the western side of the continent."  He said knowing full well that if pressed there were more then just a few ways to prove that she was neither a student of Son Goshu nor from some forgotten village.

The officer looked around as if he was trying to decide what to do.  "Well, I guess I will trust you.  I mean your father is the Current World Martial Arts Champion and Master of the Budoukai and all.  Never had any reason not to trust the word of your family."

'Dende I love you.  Thank you for having him buy that hook line and sinker.'

Another officer walked over and quietly whispered to the other one.  Roshi had little trouble hearing what was said.  "Well, we have conflicting reports.  Some of the people claim that the girl here attacked the victim for no reason.  Most of the people claim that the guy was hitting on her and he was warned to stay away, when he tried to grab her he ended up being thrown over into that display."

"You realize that the other kid here is a member of the Son family?" the first one asked.

"No, makes me wonder what really happened.  The guy that got thrown into the window probably deserved it, but I wonder how he or she did it."

"Yeah, I know what you mean.  I saw the last Budoukai.  Never saw someone move so fast in my life as that Goshu guy."

"Have you gotten their statements yet?"

"I was just about to."

"Well get on with it."

The officers turned back to Roshi and Ichigo.  "Ok, let me hear your story."  He asked Ichigo.

'Oh god.  Nothing good can come of this!!!!' Roshi thought while sweat dropping.

Ichigo grimaced and looked at Roshi as if questioning why they were bothering, but finally spoke.  "That guy," She said pointing to the stretcher the paramedics had put Rock on, "made some ludicrous threats towards Roshi, and then started leering at me and calling me babe.  I told him not to look at me.  Then Roshi said I was one of his father's students, and told him to leave me alone.  He made out to kiss me and tried to grab my hair, so I hit him."

The officer looked at her doubtfully.  "You hit him that far?"  He said pointing at the distant window.

"Yes."

"Do you have anything to add?"  The Officer asked Roshi.

'Um no...'  "Other then the fact that I will gladly pay for a new window, no."

Another officer ran up with a security tape.  "The tape didn't even catch what happened.  One second the guy was reaching for this here girl, and the next he had crashed through the window there."

"So the guy did try to grab the girl?"

"Yeah"

"And she didn't seem to do anything to provoke him?"

"Not as far as the tape could tell."

The officer turned to Roshi and Ichigo.  "Well sir, I don't think you will have to worry about the window.  You two are free to go."

Roshi looked at the officer as if the man had just grown another head.  "Ah, that's it?  No more questions or anything?"  

"No, says here that the assailant is 18, so you may be called in as a witness if they bring him to trial"

"What?"  Roshi asked.

"You are free to go, this is a simple case of self-defense against an attempted assault."  The Officer said calmly.

Roshi thought about it for a moment.  "Sir, I don't think we are going to press charges, I think he paid for his mistake already."  Roshi said.

"You agree?" The officer asked Ichigo.

Ichigo glared at Roshi and then said yes.

"Ok then, no charges were pressed for the assault, but he will still have to pay for the damages to the display case."  The officer said quickly before closing his notepad.

Roshi breathed a sigh of relief and was about to grab Ichigo and leave when he heard a woman's shrill voice.  "Coming through ZNN news!  Get out of my way you idiots!"

'Please no.' Roshi thought as he turned to look at the approaching news crew.  'Ima Gossip, JUST who I wanted to see today.'

Ima Gossip ran up in front of the broken display case and waited impatiently for her cameraman.  "This is Ima Gossip reporting live from the Satan City Midtown Mall.  I am here to report on a brawl involving members of the Son family.  So soon after the Moon Scandal this is just another highlight in the crimes of the Son family."

Roshi couldn't take it.  "Now just a minute!" He yelled out as he walked over to were Ima was standing.

Ima looked over to the police officers that were still milling about.  "Why isn't this man detained?  I have first hand accounts accusing him of starting a fight and then almost killing a poor innocent young man."

"Lady, that's Son Roshi you're talking about, he didn't have any part of the fight that happened here."  One of the officers said.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is an outrage!  I have several witnesses who will vouch that this young man definitely was part of the brawl that happened.  It is an injustice to see that the person who started this fight and caused the damage you see behind me is free to walk away.  Obviously just like the world government was too afraid to punish Capsule Corp for their involvement in the Moon Scandal the Police of Satan City are impotent to stop a member of the Son family from causing even more chaos and pain."

"That's enough!"  Roshi yelled.  "That camera on?  This is live?"  He asked the cameraman.  When the cameraman nodded Roshi continued.  "The police have the mall security tapes.  They show I tried to prevent a fight.  What you're doing isn't news lady; it's a mockery of news!  It's dishonest and distasteful and disgusting that you think you can get away with it."

Ima snorted, "No little boy, the only thing that is disgusting is the fact that you and your family think they can live above the law.  Your family lives off of the legend of Mr. Satan!  Your family has done nothing for the last 400 years, yet you still expect and receive more rights and respect then everyone else.  Your father is nothing but a brute."  She pointed at Ichigo "and I have just been informed that she is one of your father's students.  I also have learned that it was she who did all of this.  Just more proof that the so called Heroic Family is nothing but a bunch of brutes."

Roshi realized that she was wearing an earpiece that was feeding her information.

"I for one am not going to rest until the people in charge at the Capsule Corp are tried for Criminal negligence for the deaths of the people who lived and worked on the moon with insufficient safety and evacuation measures.  I was fired for trying to bring you the truth.  The police will no doubt cover for this juvenile delinquent here today."

"Your words are just libel and slander until you can find proof to back them up.  Your petty lies mean nothing to me."  Roshi said as he turned to walk away.

"Oh, yes, hide behind legal words.  Your family is good at that.  You hide in the middle of the largest piece of undeveloped land in the world.  You openly admit to having your own private army, and between the Son Foundation and the Capsule Corp. you make sure that no one ever says anything bad about you.  Well the truth is coming out.  Isn't it true that on your orders the Son Foundation started a rebuilding project in Homlet?  What are you hiding Roshi?  And just why does a 17 year old boy have the authority to control what the Foundation does or does not do?"  Ima said running up and shoving the microphone under Roshi's face.

"That's it!  I've had it.  In one line you claim my family has done nothing for the general populace and then in the next you claim that we only do things to cover our tracks.  You can't have it both ways lady.  I am in charge of the Son Foundation because it is run my father directly.  As my father is off planet right now, and my mother had never worked with the Foundation, it is my responsibility to choose what is a worthy cause to fund or work with.  I see Homlet as being no different then the things we have always done when disaster strikes.  Two years ago when the old Orange Star High School was vandalized and burned to the ground, we rebuilt it in two weeks.  When a flood wiped out the entire rice crop of the Vet district we bought food from other Planets to feed the hungry.  The private army you speak of is no doubt the security forces for the Capsule Corp and the Forces we have protecting the very ships that hauled that food.  Contrary to what you may wish to believe, Space is not a very friendly place, as the attack Monday night shows.  We try our best to keep that type of thing from happening, but we are not perfect!"  Roshi stopped for a breath.  "Not only that but some of the stuff we have locked away in the Vault at the Capsule Corp could destroy the world.  Did you realize that Cell was an Android?  The technology needed to build another such monster has been locked away for centuries.  But every few years someone tries to break in and get at that and many other terrible things Capsule Corp keeps locked away for the protection of people like you.  Are you claiming that we shouldn't keep those terrible things locked away and out of harms reach?  The very thought is ludicrous!"

"There! You admit your family has hidden things and the truth before!  Just like you are doing now!"  Ima broke in.

"Some things are better off not ever being known.  My family has always been there to help when something goes wrong.  If you see that as a cover up then fine.  Get your proof.  I am sick of you lies and I am sick of you taking us for granted and I am sick of not having the respect for what we are actually doing.  You are right miss Gossip.  Mr. Satan did die over 400 years ago.  I don't want respect because of what he did.  I want respect for what I can do and have done.  And right now I am going to show you first hand just what all MY family does for you."  

Roshi held up his cell phone.  "I have my cousin Slip on my cell phone.  You have been getting information from your earpiece, well so have I.  I demand that you apologize for your lies."

"I will not apologize for revealing the evils of your family."  Ima said proudly.

"Ok then everyone who is watching, write this down.  1-666-0666 that is Ima's home phone number.  As of this moment I am suspending all activities of the Son Foundation, as is my right.  If Miss Gossip cannot come up with proof to either the Capsule Corps duplicity in the Moon Scandal, or any other actual crimes of my family by tomorrow, I expect a full-televised apology.  Or Slip will shut down the Capsule Corp and all of its facilities.  You implied that the planet would be better off without us.  If you keep slandering us we may just leave, we have the ability to do so at any time.  I am sure New Namek wouldn't mind having us move there.  Let's see how you like it without the services we give out every day.  Anyone who has been hurt by these actions call 1-666-0666 and tell Ima just how you feel about her lies."  Roshi grabbed Ichigo and calmly walked out the door ignoring all comments and questions.

As he walked out the front doors of the Mall, he caught sight of Kit looking at him sadly.  She shook her head and turned to walk away from him and the crowd that was following him.

That one act more than anything else put a damper on what little joy he had gotten from verbally bashing Ima.  Looking around, he couldn't find sight of Mariah anywhere.

Shaking his head in frustration, he pulled out a capsule of a Hoover jet that he always kept with him when he went to town and activated it.  As soon as the smoke cleared he and Ichigo were on their way home.  He could pick up the food later.

"Thanks a lot.  You have no idea how much trouble you caused."  Roshi said sullenly.

"I didn't kill him!"  Ichigo spat.

"Does that matter?  You might as well have killed him.  It wouldn't have caused any more trouble then I am in now!"

The two of them did not speak for the rest of the day.

* * *

Feeling downright miserable with himself, Roshi sighed.  'What the heck was I thinking?  I cannot believe I let that stupid reporter get to me like that.'  "And I can't believe I was so harsh with Ichigo."

He rolled out of bed and sat back down at his desk.  He grabbed his pen and started to write.

_I really cannot blame Ichigo.  The past few days were not her fault.  I was so furious I didn't even try to listen to what she was saying.  All I could think of was how stupid it was for me to have let her come into town.  I knew she couldn't control herself._

_I have to admit that up until the mall I was having the time of my life today.  _

_This morning she asked how I could act like nothing had happened.  She essentially wanted to know why I could forgive her._

_I just hope she can forgive me._

_She didn't kill him._

_For her, that must have been one of the hardest things she has ever done.  I didn't even think about it.  She was raised to never pull a punch._

_She didn't kill him._

_If only I had such self-control._

_Son Roshi_

Roshi closed his Journal and shoved it into the desk.  

'What was I thinking?'  He asked himself one last time as his Vidphone suddenly started to ring.

* * *

Yes, done.. Chapter 30 will be ALL NEW.  Hear that ALL NEW!

I am DONE with the revisions!

WHOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!

Now for some notes.

Kitsune Maxwell has a really cool Trunks/pan fic called "Glitch" you should all read

Kitsune is also nice enough to host this fic on her website.  You should all check it out.  She has this neat round robin going.  If you have any love of Fantasy or D&D, you should check it out.  Heck even if you don't you should check it out!  Hey, and feel free to add to it!

Here is the address  http://kitsuneden.tripod.com

Dracon has written several interesting fics, and they have not gotten the reviews they deserve.  PLEASE go and read and review some of his work.

This is the link to his bio page. http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=238576 

Finally, my rant.  As some of you know, I was a bit harsh to a fellow author this past week for getting mad at a reviewer.  I probably should not have done that. (this chapter was originally posted in late May of 2002.  This all is old news, but I left it cause my stance has not changed.)  

However, I can not reiterate my stance on reviews enough.  I only want honesty.  If you think my fic is crap.  Please tell me.  If all you say is "great Job"  I guess I will be happy.  Remember people; I am not getting paid for writing this.  The personal enjoyment of writing and your reviews are the only payment my fellow author's and I receive.  If you take the time to read a fic, Please take the minuscule amount of time to review it.  Be honest.  Tell us authors what you think.  If you question something or dislike something ask us to explain or Tell us what you don't like!  It can only make our fics more enjoyable to read.

Besides, it is the least you can do after spending all the time reading each chapter.  And I will never turn down a real review.  Heck I even welcome Flames! ;)

  
The Smooster


	30. Little Lies and the Truth

This Chapter is dedicated to SuperSaiyan and Jacob as the two of you have been giving me some really thoughtful reviews as of late.

Chapter 30

Little lies and the Truth

Thursday, June 19  

7:45 pm

Roshi closed his Journal and shoved it into the desk.  

'What was I thinking?'  He asked himself one last time as his Vidphone suddenly started to ring.  'I don't want to talk to anyone right now.'  Roshi thought as he walked over to his computer to answer it.  His personal phone was on a private line with almost unhackable lock outs.  Which meant only the people Roshi wanted to be calling could call him on his personal number.  

'A million zeni says that this is either Slip or Kit.'  Roshi bet himself as he sat down at his desk. "Answer."  He told the computer.

"Roshi, we need to talk."  Kit replied as she appeared on the screen.

"Kit this really isn't a good time I..."

Kit cut him off, "No! No No No! you are not going to ignore me.  We need to talk NOW.  Since this nifty little thing Slip gave me tells me that my phone line is no-longer secure I suggest you come pick me up.  Or I can just start talking now.  Take your pick."  Kit said stubbornly.

"Someone tapped your phone?"  Roshi said alarmed.  'The encryption on this line is good enough that whoever it is probably is getting nothing but static from this conversation, but I'm not going to take the chance.'

"That's what this little box attached to the back of my computer says."  Kit replied sullenly.

"Shoot, I'll have Slip look into it, but anyway, are you sure this can't wait?  I really would rather..."

"Would rather what?  Ignore me like you have been doing the past few day?  Or better, not even really acknowledge me, like you did with Mariah today?  Roshi, avoiding me isn't going to make me go away, so get off your rear end and come get me so we can talk."  Kit said glaring at him.

Roshi looked down for a moment.  'I knew I would have to face her and Mariah sooner or later, I was hoping for later though.'  Looking back up, he frowned, "Ok, I'll be there to pick you up in about half an hour."

A smallish smile formed on the edges of Kit's mouth.  "Good, I'll see you then."

* * *

Although Roshi had said he would be there in half an hour, he was taking his time to fly to Kit's house on the Kintoun.  He needed that time to think.

'This might be a good thing.  Yes, this is a good thing.  I cannot look at this like it is a bad thing.  Kit knows I am a Saiyan.  I can tell her all about Ichigo and then Kit can calm Mariah down so that I don't have to tell Mariah about myself before I am ready.  Yep, that is how things are going to go.'

Roshi half laugh half scoffed at himself.  'Who am I kidding?  Kit wanted me to tell Mariah everything already.  If I tell her about Ichigo, she is going to learn the truth about Monday night, and then she will see even MORE reason for me to tell Mariah everything.'

Roshi sat on his cloud and thought about his predicament.  'Ok, time to think rationally here, is telling Mariah the truth bad?'  Roshi questioned himself.

"Yes," he replied after just a short time.  'Ok, why?'

'Because the truth in this instance is a lot more then I think she can accept.  It is one thing to accept that the person she thinks of as a good friend and possible boyfriend...'  Roshi paused,  'Am I her boyfriend?  I...'  Roshi rolled his eyes, 'To me, one date does not make us a couple, she is just a good friend, who I think I want to be more, but that will come with time.  For her on the other hand, I bet she does think of me as her boyfriend.'

"Why didn't I think of this sooner?"  Roshi asked the air.  "This complicates things even more."

Thinking about it, Roshi realized that if it were not for the enormous amount of information he had hidden about himself, now complicated by Ichigo's presence, he would have been happy to realize that Mariah probably thought of him as her boyfriend.  Now, however, it filled him with dread.

He remembered what Kit had said not all that long ago about telling Mariah the truth. "Well don't wait to long. Eventually fate will force your hand. My people have a saying that goes: When fate forces a hand it often bites the hand it forces. Beware Fate's bite, as it has very large teeth and very sharp teeth. When it bites it bites hard and never lets go for anyone or anything.  Don't let fate bite you Roshi. I've always thought the best time for the truth is the present. Wait to long and it will bite you."

"Why does Kit have to be right so often?"  Roshi asked himself.  "Because she is a girl, and she is Mariah's best friend, and your best friend.  She knows you better then almost anyone else on the planet.  That is why she has to be right so often."

'Ok, I need to get a hold of myself.  If I let my mind wander I will start seeing things that are not there.  I can't read Mariah's mind, so I can guess what she thinks, but I don't know for sure.  I have to clear things up with her as soon as possible though.  Kit was right, fate has bit and if I don't come clean soon Mariah won't wait for the truth.'

'Which gets back to the original line of thought that went, it may be one thing to accept that I, who she has thought of as a geeky klutz, is actually a master of martial arts.  She might even be able to accept the fact that I am a partial alien.  I mean, she accepted Kit almost before I did.  But, it is a Totally different thing to accept that Ichigo blew up the moon, and that I can fly and that I could probably pick up small mountains and move them around at my leisure.'

'That and how much does Mariah actually need to know?  It is not that I don't trust her, but for some reason telling her the truth doesn't seem right.  And I have a lot to tell her about.  How will she take learning about Mr. Satan and how almost everything he did was actually done by someone else?  Or how the Earth has actually been destroyed twice without most people ever knowing about it?'

A chill crept into Roshi's spine.  "How will she take the fact that I am not only capable of killing people, but that I have killed?  She is so innocent and sweet and loving and kind and...  and I have blood on my hands.  How will she take learning that I was really the one who ordered the evacuation of the Moon.  Or that I ordered that evacuation knowing that I might have to blow the moon up.  Knowing, in fact, that most of the people would not survive?'

'I think, I love her, but can she love me?'  Roshi thought about that for a good long while.  'I have hidden too much for too long.  Kit was right, I need to let Mariah see some of who I am, or she will never be able to accept the truth.'

"Now the only question is how much do I tell Kit?"

* * *

Roshi arrived at Kit's house to find her sitting on the large porch swing they owned looking perturbed.

"It's about time you got here."  Kit said as she walked up and looked at Roshi.  "Well have you forgotten everything about being a gentleman?  Help me on the Kintoun so we can go someplace private to talk."  Kit said as Roshi started to jump of the Kintoun.

Roshi landed on the ground and looked at Kit.  "You know, you didn't seem to have any problem climbing on it when you Niko and Mariah took it for a joy ride a few weeks ago."

Kit smiled and winked at him.  "I know, but you were on the cloud, so you could have just given me a hand and we could have been off."  She said as she jumped on the Kintoun."

'Kit is toying with me.  I don't like it when she does stuff like that.  She's mad at me for something, yet having fun making me wonder and suffer.  This really sucks.'  Roshi thought as he jumped on in front of her and then turned to look back.  "Ok, where do you want to go?"

"I don't really care, just someplace where those guys in that camera van right there can't follow us."  She said pointing to a white van that was parked down the street.

Roshi gawked at the van for a moment.  'Ok, the media harassing me and Slip is one thing, but if they've been bothering my friends that is a totally different story.'  

Directing the Kintoun to float up into the air in a lazy circle, Roshi turned to look at Kit.  "How long has that van been parked there?"

Kit scowled.  "Since you made that scene this afternoon in the mall.  A bunch of reporters found Mariah and I on Tuesday and asked a bunch of questions about you.  Then a picture of you whispering in Mariah's ear at the movie last Friday appeared in like three tabloids yesterday and a bunch of photographers started stalking her and she freaked out and you know I am almost starting to wonder if being your friend is worth it."

"What!?!  What do you mean you are wondering if being my friend is worth it.  I'm sorry that the stupid media people are stalking you guys, but other then putting that bitch in her place today at the mall I haven't done anything!"

Kit glared at him.  "Exactly!  You have not done anything!  You have not returned our calls, you have not told us what is going on.  You practically ignored Mariah at the Mall today!  Do you honestly think Rock was the only one who noticed that girl you were with?  Do you have any idea how much seeing you with that girl and then NOT having you even say hi to her hurt Mariah?"

"I... I didn't mean to hurt anyone.  How is Mariah?  Do you think she would talk to me now?"

"You tell me,"  Kit said as she fished a large crumpled paper out of her backpack.  She then handed the tabloid over to Roshi.

In big glaring letters the front page read: 

**Son Boy Cheating on Long Time Girlfriend!!!**

**Innocent girl crushed by his treachery!!!**

It then showed several pictures of Roshi and Ichigo at the Mall, and then a picture of Mariah running away from a crowd of people.

Roshi felt like the worlds largest ass.  'Why did they have to do this to Mariah?  The tabloids are every bit as bad as Rock.  All she ever did was be my friend and now... this.  Damn I am an idiot.  Why didn't I see this coming?'

"Why did they have to go after Mariah?  She didn't do anything wrong."  Roshi looked back at Kit to see what her expression was.  "Um, since when was I Mariah's long time Boyfriend?"

Kit shook her head slowly.  "In the world where Mariah lives?  Probably since you turned ten.  In the real world, I wouldn't know.  You haven't been talking to her much since that date you two had last Friday and she probably thinks you are trying to dump her."

"Dump her!  We only had one date!  We are just good friends!"  Roshi said back in self defense.  'wait!  Just good friends?  Are we just good friends?  Am I lying to myself, or are we just good friends?  I don't know, but now is not the time to worry about that.'

"Men."  Kit said under her breath.  "Roshi, are you totally clueless?  I mean how can you NOT see how much Mariah likes you?"

Roshi didn't reply.

"Well?  I'm waiting."

"Kit, I don't have an answer for you.  I just don't know.  I guess I've always just thought of Mariah as a good friend.  Sure, I think I want her to be more, but I really don't know and right now is not the best time for this."

Kit just shook her head.  "Roshi, you don't get it do you?  There is no such thing as a best time for anything.  If something means enough to you, you make time.  I realize that I have somewhat pushed both of you a bit, but you have to see how much she likes you?  What are you waiting for?"

"I don't know.  It's just... well Kit, you and Mariah are for all practical purposes my only two good friends.  There is safety in just being friends.  Moving beyond friends means taking risks and to be honest, there are some types of risks that I don't know if I want to rush into."

"Ok then, what's the story with this girl you showed up at the mall with then?  You two seemed a bit closer then just two training partners would be."

"Ichigo?  Well she's... Ichigo."  Roshi said as the Kintoun came to a stop and he hopped off.

Kit looked around.  "Videl's lookout?  I thought Son men only took romantic interests here.  I'm not Mariah."

Roshi blushed.  "Ah, yeah that does tend to be the way of things, but you said you wanted to go someplace private and I really couldn't think of a better spot.  We could have gone back to my place, but then Ichigo probably would have found us and she isn't in the best of moods after what happened in the mall today."

"She's staying at your house?  I thought your father had a private island where he trained his students.  Speaking of which your father isn't even on the Earth right now.  Why isn't she home in that forgotten village you said she came from?"

"Ah... well because..."

"Because she isn't from a forgotten village is she?"  Kit said.  As she spoke her eyes suddenly cleared a bit and her tone changed.  "So who is she and what really is her story?"

'Lie or not?  Lie or not?  Gah, truth, Kit can smell lies from ten km away.'

"Um, well, you are right, Ichigo isn't from a forgotten village.  She's..."

Kit's ears flattened back onto her head, a clear indication that she wasn't buying it.  She glared at him.  "She isn't one of your cousins?"

"What?!? No!  Why?"  Roshi stammered before he even thought about what she was asking.

"Roshi, I got close enough to the two of you today to smell it.  She smells like your cousin Slip when Slip isn't bathing in that nasty vanilla perfume she always wears."

Roshi blinked a few times and looked at Kit.  All he could think about was a day a few years back.  A day that had almost ruined their friendship forever.

* * *

It was a beautiful spring day.  It was nearing the end of their 7th grade year.  Roshi was 13 at the time.  

They were in phy-ed and they teacher had decided to take advantage of the spring day by having the kids play dodge ball out on one of the football (soccer) fields.

Roshi had always been a natural athlete.  Like all Saiyan children he was solidly built.  In fact, he almost looked chunky.  The truth was, despite how he looked, he was an able runner, and extremely fit, but he had never really tried to show off.  

During the first round, he had survived to be one of the last ten people in the game.  Then Kit had hit him in the back as he tried to tag one of the other guys out.

After a few more minutes the remaining people in realized that Kit was the only one who really posed a threat and all of them started gunning for her.

She squealed with laughter as she zipped around the field ducking and dodging, twisting and turning.  Kit could easily run circles around the rest of the kids and a few of the people she had tagged out started to complain to the teacher about how it wasn't fair.

After Kit won the first round, several of the other kids started complaining about it.  Roshi had always been a peace maker, so he tried to talk calm people down by talking to Kit.

"You know, you could be a bit easier on us.  We can't all run forever like you can."  He had teased while giving her shoulder a playful punch.

Kit looked up at him and rolled her eyes.  "It's not my fault you guys are only Human."  She teased back.

"You hear that!  Flea face is making fun of Roshi!"  Rock called out to the rest of the class.  "Man, too bad Roshi isn't more like Mr. Satan was.  He could have run her right out of town!"

Roshi had laughed with the rest of his classmates, but not for the same reason.  'Well guess what Kit.  I'm not only human.  As long as you think I am though, I think I'll have some fun.'

"Well, lets just see what one of us mere humans can do then."  He replied to Kit.  "She's mine."  He informed everyone else.

"Oh you think you can catch me?"  Kit teased back.  "You don't have a chance Tubby!"

"Is that a challenge?"  Roshi replied mockingly.  "I think that was a challenge."

"You had better believe it."

The teacher got the class under control and started the next game.

'Heh heh heh.  Time to go play fox and hound.'  Roshi thought as he scooped up a dodge ball and started looking for Kit.

"Oh, Kit, here I come!"  he yelled as he broke into a run chasing after her.

Kit saw him coming and started running around through groups of people and around things in an effort to ditch him.

It didn't work.  Before long he was following no more then a meter behind her and sticking to her heals like glue.

Kit wouldn't hit her growth spurt for another several months and she was only about 127cm tall (4'2") to Roshi's 160 (5'3").  Even with her tiny size, she was an able runner, and she was extremely deft at quick turns, dodges, and jerky movements.  Had Roshi not been able to use his ki to help him turn and stay with her there would have been no way he could have been able to follow her even if he could normally run faster.

After a bit, Roshi decided he was going to have fun with her for making fun of the rest of the kid for only being human.  He decided to just follow her until she started to majorly slow down and it wasn't a challenge anymore.

After several minutes passed, Kit was no-longer laughing in delight as she lead him around the field.  Now she was glancing back over her shoulder and running in fear. She tried harder and harder to lose him, but he stayed with her on every step.

After about five minutes of constant sprinting she finally fell over panting and trying to catch her breath.

Roshi casually walked up and dropped the dodge ball on her stomach.  She didn't even try to catch it.  "Got you."  He said as five dodge balls suddenly came from different directions to tag him out.  Anyone who could keep up with Kit for five minutes was too dangerous to leave in the game.

Roshi grabbed Kit's arm and helped her to the side of the field where they both collapsed to catch their breath.

After a few moments Roshi was fine, but Kit was still practically hyperventilating.  "You gave me a run for my money out there Kit"  Roshi said realizing that he may have gone a little overboard.

"Hey look, Her tongue is hanging out of her mouth like a dog's.  We always knew you were a mutt Kit!"  Clay said as he walked by.  As he walked past he acted like he slipped and stomped on Kit's tail.  Kit yelped in pain and then tried to pull her tail up next to her so other people couldn't do the same thing.

"Ya! She even sounds like a stupid dog."  Kari Snide said as she walked over.  "Why don't you go away and leave us HUMANS alone you ugly little tramp!"

"Yeah!  Not our fault your only a stupid dog you know."  Rock added in.

"I don't see why Roshi wastes his time with you anyway.  Your nothing but a good for nothing little bitch.  He sure showed you today.  Amy Priss added.

"Yeah, way to go.  You really showed her what's what."  Someone else said as they patted Roshi on the back.

"Hey guys, leave her alone.  She doesn't deserve this!"  Roshi said as he jumped up to try to get them to leave Kit alone.

"Yeah, you're right.  She deserves a good flea dip and a chew bone!  Think she can make fun of us does she?"  Kari shot back.

Kit suddenly jumped up and tried to leave the area.  Amy pushed her down before she could get all the way up.  "Oh no you don't.  Roshi may have worn you out some, but we're not letting you just run away now you little bitch."

"HEY LEAVE HER ALONE!"  Roshi yelled as he stepped in to try to help Kit up.  Kit looked at him and yanked her hand back.  

"Go away.  Just go away!  I don't need your help!" She cried.

"What's going on here?"  Mr. Ase asked as he suddenly showed up to break up the crowd.

"Nothing sir." Almost everyone answered.

Mr. Ase looked around and shook his head at the sight of Kit.  "Just don't do it again."  He spoke to the whole group as he turned around to call for everyone to head for the showers.

* * *

Kit wasn't in algebra, which was the last class of the day.  Roshi felt terrible.  Never before had he done something that had caused one of his friends to get hurt. 

After school he had run to Kit's house to apologize and see how she was.  

"Go away I never want to see you again!"  Kit had yelled back from behind her door after he had knocked on it.

"But, Kit, I'm sorry I didn't mean to cause everyone to start making fun of you.  I was just having fun.  I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Go away!  I don't care.  Just go away or I'll call the Police!"

Roshi went home feeling like the biggest traitor on the planet.

* * *

Later that night he was working on his homework when his father called him down.  "Roshi, you have a phone call."

Roshi's parents wouldn't let him use his private phone line for several more years, but he could still take calls in his room.  "I'll take it up here if that is ok"  he told his father before opening up the Vidphone page on his computer.

'Who would be calling me?'  Roshi thought before Kit appeared on the screen.  "Kit!  Um, hi.  How are you?"  He asked.  It was easy to see that she had been crying.  Her large eyes which were normally a brilliant goldish green were bloodshot and swollen.

"Why didn't you tell me?"  Kit asked through sobs.  "I thought you were my friend."

"Tell you what?  I am your friend."  Roshi replied baffled.

Kit rubbed her eyes to wipe some tears away.  "A real friend would have told me the truth."

"Told you what?  What do you mean?  I've never lied to you?"  Roshi replied even more confused.

Kit looked up at him and slowly looked him in the eyes.  "Yes you have.  You lied today."

"No I didn't!  What did I lie about?"

Kit started crying again.  "You... you... You're not human."

Roshi almost fell backwards in his chair as little pin pricks of fear stabbed at him.

"How do you know?  Who told you?"  He asked in shock.

"I... I... just know."  She replied.

"Kit stay there.  We need to talk in person.  I will be right over."  Roshi didn't even end the call as he ran out of his room down the stairs and out the front door of his house.

He had already called the Kintoun and was jumping on it when his father flew up in front of him blocking his way.  "And where might we be going?"  Goshu asked.

"Dad!  I have to go talk to Kit.  Some stuff happened in school today and people started making fun of her and it was all my fault and now she's crying and hurt and..."

"And she knows what you are."  Goshu stated matter-o-factly.

"DADDD you listened to our conversation?!?!?!"  Roshi yelled indignantly.

"When a young lady calls you bawling her head off I think I is my responsibility to find out why."  Goshu said not apologizing for the intrusion into Roshi's privacy.

"What do I do Dad?  What do I tell her?"  Roshi asked realizing that maybe his father would be able to help him out of this mess.

"The truth."  Goshu answered.  "She is your friend she deserves to know the truth.  Besides, she is a Vulpine, she would have found out sooner or later anyway."

"She what?"

Goshu shook his head.  "Roshi, the reason the Vulpines asked your great great great grandfather for help all those years ago was because they knew who and what we really were.  She would have found out eventually when she was old enough to know what it meant.  Now all you can do is tell her the truth and hope that your friendship is strong enough to recover.  But know this.  The Vulpine people value honesty very highly.  She will never again trust you as much as she once did."

"I know."

"Good, then go see if you can't fix some of the hurt you caused today."  Roshi's father said as he lowered himself to the ground and walked into the house.

Roshi had a lot to think about on his way to Kit's house that night.  

When he got to her house he flew up to her second story window and rapped on the glass.

Kit had been sitting curled up in her bed and she nearly hit the ceiling when she heard Roshi knocking on the window.

She ran over and opened the window.  "Roshi!  Don't you know your not supposed to go looking through girl's windows?"  Kit asked him scoldingly.

"What do you mean?  Don't do stuff like that.  I'd never go look in on a girl's room."

Kit leaned on her window pane and gave him that look.

"Well... you're not really a girl."  Roshi said bewildered.

"SON ROSHI I'M really mad at you right now and your stupid sense of humor isn't helping!"

"Sorry.  Can I come in?"

"Yes."  Kit said as she slammed the window shut.

Roshi knocked on the window.

Kit turned around and glared at him.  "The front door is over there!"  She said pointing.

"Oh, yeah..."  Roshi said feeling like an idiot.

* * *

A few minutes later, Roshi was sitting cross-legged on the floor in Kit's bedroom.

"I'm sorry about not telling you sooner.  I just...  This is really hard to explain."  Roshi said.

"Why?  What is there to explain?  You aren't human you admit that now?"  Kit asked, her voice coming in a whisper.

"Yes, I admit it, but I want to know something.  How did you know?  I mean, how did you know I wasn't human.  Which I actually mostly am by the way."

Kit looked up at him and her ears flushed red.  "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Why would I laugh at you?  Please, just tell me how you knew I wasn't totally human."

"You smell different.  I mean, your sweat smells different.  It has... I don't know a really bitter smell to it.  Normal people have a more sweet smell to their sweat."

Roshi absent mindedly smelled his shirt.  Kit started laughing.

"I don't smell anything."  Roshi said defensively.

"Neither do I right now, you're not sweating as much as you were this afternoon."

"Gee, thanks."

"So, what kind of Alien are you?"  Kit asked softly, "and why didn't you tell me sooner that I wasn't the only alien in Satan City?"

"I...  Well, let me tell you a story.  I think that will be easiest."

* * *

Roshi had spend several hours telling Kit about his family and about himself.  She had slowly forgiven him, and she had actually smiled and told him that his apology was accepted.

From that day on, Roshi never left the house without wearing at least some form of cologne and having put on plenty of antiperspirant.

Roshi soon learned that Kit's nose was at least several times better then his own.  There was many a time when various scents were too much for him to bear.  In those times, like when he was in Mrs. Rose's class and she wore this horridly strong perfume that stunk like rotting flowers, he would always look over and feel sorry for Kit.  How she managed to live though that class was beyond him.

Having Kit around also came in handy at other times.  She found a gas leak in a chemistry lab long before anyone else realized that they were in danger.

She also knew some embarrassingly personal things.  For instance, while human's supposedly didn't have pheromones, Saiyans did.  They were not overly strong, but they were strong enough, and while they didn't affect Kit any, she claimed that she could predict when various girls' heads would turn as Roshi walked past by timing how long it would take the air carrying his scent to reach them.

All and all Kit was Kit.  As the years passed, Kit became a better and closer friend.  She had promised to never tell his secrets to anyone, and he had promised to never allow who and what he was to hurt any of his friend ever again.

As Kit's voice once again drug him back into reality, he realized that in that, he had failed miserably.

* * *

"What did you just say?"  Roshi asked.

"I asked you if those things that destroyed Homlet were Ouzarus."  Kit said.

"Oh, um... yes they were."

"Where did a Saiyan girl and a bunch of other Saiyans come from?  I thought you said that your ancestors were the last full blooded Saiyans left."

"They came from Saiya.  The home planet of the Saiyan race.  We didn't know about it and therefore we thought that Goku and Vegeta were the last Saiyans."

Kit looked at him like she didn't really believe him.  "And you were going to tell me about Ichigo when?"

"Um...  Originally, ah, never."

"SON ROSHI!  You promised to never lie about your people ever again!"

"I know, I know, it is just that Ichigo is going home.  I didn't expect the idiots that showed up to kill her on Monday and I thought she wouldn't be here very long."

"I thought you trusted me."

"I do.  Kit you are making this really hard."  Roshi replied knowing that he deserved every bit of what Kit was doing.

"So she is going home?  She doesn't mean anything to you?  You aren't going to just dump Mariah?"

"Yes, I think I would like to call her a friend or at least an ally, and No I am not going to dumb Mariah cause I honestly never thought that we were really an item yet.  And before you ask, I think I do want us to become an item but please don't push us."

"Ok, I will accept that.  Now, what are you going to tell Mariah?"

"I don't know.  I really don't know.  I can't tell her everything, but she deserves to know."

"Yes she does.  Remember this Roshi.  You may think that there is safety just being her friend.  But, she doesn't think of you as just a friend anymore.  If you don't open up and tell her the truth soon, you won't ever become that item you spoke of, and you might just lose her as a friend as well."

"I know Kit, I know."

Kit smiled.  "So, tell me about this Ichigo and why she is here."

Roshi explained everything to her to the best of his ability.  He left out the fact that a changeling was coming to Earth as he didn't think she needed know that.  As he saw it, there was not reason to add to her worries.

After several hours of talking, Roshi took Kit home.  As she walked into her house she turned around and smiled.  "Thank you for coming and talking to me.  I'm sorry about all the stuff you have had happen the past week.  I will try to reassure Mariah tomorrow."

"Yeah, thanks.  I never meant for any of this to happen to her, or you."

"I know.  So, where are you taking Mariah on your date tomorrow?"

'My date tomorrow?  Oh crap!  Dad's coming home tomorrow and the press conference and then we are going to be in training and...  I forgot all about my date with Mariah'

* * *

Thank you for reading Please review.

The Smooster

p.s.  Arthain... I seem to think that this IS a new chapter... wouldn't you agree?

  
 


	31. Sacrifices, and Convictions

Well, I finally found the time to get this thing done!  Whooo yeah!  Enjoy!.  Please Review when done.

Chapter 31

Sacrifices and Convictions 

Thursday June 19th,

Roshi casually walked over to the white van that was parked down the street from Kit's house.  As he got closer to it he could hear people inside panicking and then the engine started and it flew away.

'Good, and don't come back.  Leave my friends along you scum sucking jerks.'  Roshi thought as he glared at the retreating van.

'I can't believe someone would try to use them to get information or gossip on me.'  Roshi looked around to see if he could spot anymore vans or things that shouldn't be parked near Kit's house.  Not seeing any, he decided that he needed to go find Mariah.

'There is no way in hell I am going to be able to take Mariah out tomorrow night.  How could I forget about that?!?  I need to find her and get a rain date or something.  Cause the way Kit is acting, Mariah already thinks I hate her or something, and if I don't tell her I can't make it and just don't show up, she will never forgive me.'

Roshi laughed to himself as a random thought got stuck in his mind.  "Yeah too bad I can't just pack Slip, and Ichigo, and my mother, and Mariah and Kit up and ship them to were ever so that they stop bugging me.  Women, I will never get women."  He muttered under his breath.

Neither Mariah nor her mother were at home.  Three news vans were however.  A reporter got out and started to come over to Roshi to ask questions, but Roshi just jumped on his Kintoun and flew away.

'Ok, where to go look now?' Roshi thought to himself.  "I know, Mariah's grandparents live in West City!"

Once Roshi was far enough away that no one could see him anymore, he ditched the Kintoun and flew directly to West City.  Remembering her grandparents address from before, Roshi landed nearby in a deserted alley, and walked quickly to their house.  He could sense that there were only two people in the house, neither of which was Mariah, but he hoped that they would know where she was.

Roshi knocked on the door and then, he waited for someone to answer the door.  

After a few moments, a heavy set man of about 70 or so yanked the door open a leveled a rather large shotgun at Roshi's stomach.  "For the last time we aren't answering any questions!"  he yelled before yanking the gun back and looking at Roshi in shock.  "Ah, oh! Ah, you're the Son boy aren't you?"

Roshi blinked a few times not completely sure what to say.  "Ah yes Mr. Smart, I am.  Is Mariah here?  She and her mother were not at their house in Satan City."

"I would say not.  The damn vultures have been driving them up a wall the past few days.  I'm of half the mind to call the media and tell them you're here so they leave us alone and follow you around."

"I understand your sentiment sir, but I really can't control the media any, and I guess my family is in the spot light at the moment, and since Mariah is my friend she got roped in too."

Mr. Smart seemed to see something down the street.  "Well come in, get off that porch!"  He said as he waived Roshi in through the door.  "Can't have any eavesdroppers now can we?"

"No, I guess not."  

"Now son, did I hear you just call Mariah a friend?  Just making sure, a friend not a girlfriend?"

Roshi blushed.  'This is remarkably uncomfortable.  I think I would rather be fighting Banana again.  At least then I knew what I was doing.'  Roshi thought as he tried to think of how to answer that question.  "Um I would say a good friend right now, not quite a girlfriend but close."

Mariah's grandfather smiled and reached out to shake Roshi's hand.  "Good to hear that.  I know, I know, I shouldn't be doubting Mariah, but it is just that after I would suspect almost all the girls close to your age claim to be at the very least your friend.  Sure was that way at least when I was young and knew Sash."  The man said naming Tee's grandfather.

Roshi smiled and his face flushed a bit realizing that Mariah's Grandfather was probably right on more levels then Roshi cared to guess.

"Kai, aren't you going to answer the poor boy's question?"  An elderly woman said as she brought in a tray of various cookies and bars.

Roshi couldn't help smiling.  'One thing about Grandmother's is that they always have free food.'

Mr. Smart looked at Roshi and shook his head.  "Sadly no, I can't tell you where Mariah is.  Her mother is an incredibly stubborn woman and she is determined to make it on her own.  So while Mariah comes to visit us quite regularly, this is the last place you would expect to find her mother."

'Crap!  I didn't even think about that.  These are Mariah's grandparents on her dad's side of the family.'

"Well, then I am sorry to have bothered you.  Hopefully the media will go away after a few days.  I need to get going."  Roshi said as he turned to leave.

"Oh don't worry son.  The media is fickle.  As soon as they realize that there isn't a story with you and your family they will find someone else to torment until you attract their attention again.  I've seen it happen tones of times.  The last time it was this bad was when Teddy took over for her mother as President of the CC.  Now it looks like the sharks are getting a jump start on yourself and your cousin Slip."  

 "Yeah, I guess you are right.  Well thank you for your time."

"Oh no problem.  We hope to see you again.  Hopefully under better circumstances."  Mariah's grandmother said with a slight wistful look in her eyes.

Roshi quickly closed the door and took a deep breath.  'Why is every woman on the planet either plotting my wedding with themselves or with their daughter's or someone else they have real close personal ties to?'  Roshi shook his head.  'Maybe having Ichigo hate me isn't such a bad thing.  At least she's safe.'

Roshi blinked a few times.  "Ichigo safe?  I have got to be loosing my mind!  She's about as safe as flying into a black hole."

Finding the alley deserted again, Roshi once again took to flight and tried to figure out what to do about Mariah.  'I can't not tell her, but I can't find her.  I hate to do this, but I have to go to Kit's house.  At least she will be able to convey my message.  She won't like to, and I will owe her, but anything is better then just leaving Mariah in the lurch.'

Roshi got to Kit's house a few minutes later and hovered about a Km above it.  "Great, now there are four news vans.  Don't these people sleep?"  Roshi shook his head in disgust.  "Kintoun, come here!"  He called out to his cloud.

After the Kintoun showed up, Roshi casually flew down to the front door of Kit's house.  It was about 10:30 and most of the lights were off, so Roshi had the Kintoun fly up to Kit's window.  Making sure NOT to look in incase she was indecent, he knocked on the window.

A bit later, Kit opened it up.  She was still dressed in her normal clothes, so Roshi was relieved that he had not waken her.  Kit tended to not enjoy being woken up.

Kit glared at him.  "Hovering outside my window again?  How many times have I told you that you aren't supposed to do that?"

 "About three or four times a month for about four years."  Roshi replied honestly.

Kit laughed.  "You never will learn, will you?  At least you don't try to look in anymore."

"I NEVER!..." Roshi started to say.

"I know calm down.  Can't I tease you a little?"

"Well, um, I guess, but I'm getting sick of being called a perv."

"Well come in so we can talk."  Kit said before slamming the window shut.

'One of these days, she is going to let me come in through that window.'  Roshi thought.  'Yeah right, and one of these days I will actually understand the female sex too.  I'm hopeless.'

After Kit let him in, she turned around and gave him a funny look.  "Ok, so what brings you back so soon?  More stuff to share?"

"Well, not exactly.  See, I need to ask you a favor."  Roshi said looking at the ground.

"Why do I get the feeling I am not going to like this favor?"  Kit replied.

"Because you won't."  Roshi said before looking up.  "I can't find Mariah."

Kit shrugged, so, it's like 10:35 at night, what do you need to find her for now?"

"I can't take her out tomorrow."

"Excuse me?  Oh no, no, no, no, no!  You are not doing this to her.  She's been waiting for tomorrow since you dropped her off at home Friday night."

"I know, but my dad is coming home tomorrow to deal with the whole Moon business, and then we are having a big family meeting and then I have to do a bunch of stuff with my dad and I'm not going to be able to take her out tomorrow."

Kit sighed.  "Ok, I am sure she will show up here tomorrow to show me what she is wearing and all for the date.  I will be your messenger of doom, but you owe me.  And you owe her big time."

"I know."  Roshi replied melancholy.  "I guess.  I will see you around.  Good night Kit, and,  thank you for being a friend even when things are not going so well."

Kit smiled.  "Hey, don't worry about it.  Someone has to keep you on your toes."

* * *

Roshi made it home slightly after 11 pm.  He had hoped to apologize to Ichigo for his harsh words from earlier, but she seemed to be sleeping.

 'I guess that will have to wait until the morning.  Too bad too, I was hoping to get this out of the way tonight.  Kit may be stubborn and Mariah may be over reactive, but Ichigo is not the type to easily forgive and the sooner I tell her that I over reacted the easier she will be to work with until she goes away and I can put my life back in order.'

* * *

Roshi allowed himself to sleep in until 8am.  He knew that it was going to be a long day, as his father was due to be home around 10am.  Meaning their training would begin in earnest today.

'First things first, I need to find Ichigo and apologize for being an idiot.'  He thought as he woke up and started to do a few stretches.  

After a quick shower and breakfast, he flew to where he could sense her meditating in the middle of his mother's rose garden.  'For a person who prides herself on being all tough and nasty, she sure likes flowers a lot.'  Roshi thought as he landed near by.

As soon as he landed she opened her eyes and glared at him.  Her eyes were dark like stormy clouds.  "Go away, I don't want to talk to you, and if I spend any more time with you, I doubt I will ever get your hypocritical stench off of myself."  Ichigo said as she took to the air and flew off towards the waterfall and lake. 

"Well, I guess this rules out a simple I'm Sorry."  Roshi said to the air as he watched her fly away.  'And what did she mean by my hypocritical stench?'  Roshi smelled his pits almost on reflex.  'I can't smell anything.  Well, I should go put more deodorant on just in case.  But I really wonder just what she meant by calling me a hypocrite?  Not like she hasn't been one herself.'

* * *

Roshi had known that it was going to be a very long day.  As it turned out, it was going to be even longer.  His little outburst in the mall had caused a worldwide panic.  People everywhere were sure that the Capsule Corp and the entire Son and Briefs families were just going to pack up and leave.  He had suggested people call Ima Gossip.  Well people had called Ima Gossip, and left death threats.  The Satan City Police arrested one man for attempting to blow up the hotel she was staying in.  Someone DID blow up her news van and all her cameras.  The rioting in Satan City got so bad, that the Police asked for Capsule Corp to send out some of the very Security Forces that Ima had been bashing.  Had Slip not sent them, the rioters would probably have murdered Ima.

Some how, none of this news had found it's way to Roshi.  The first he heard of it was when he got back into his house and got reamed by his mother and then had a nice long discussion via the vidphone with his father and then Slip.  There was going to be a press conference as soon as Teddy and his father landed.  Or promptly at 10am.  That was to be followed by a family meeting at the Capsule Corp.  Not just a small meeting, but rather, more or less the ENTIRE extended family.  Roshi was going to have to apologize to them and then they were going to deal with Ichigo and plan for the attack of the Changeling.  Which of course meant he had to get Ichigo to talk to him so that he could get her to the Capsule Corp in time for the meeting.

'What was I thinking?'  Roshi thought as he slowly flew to where he could sense Ichigo meditating next to Icarus.

"Go away, I don't care what you have to say."  Ichigo said as soon as he landed.

'I guess I would rather have her holding a grudge then blowing up and attacking me, but this is ridiculous.'  "Yes you do.  Or don't you want us to help you get rid of the changelings that attacked your planet?"  Roshi asked sullenly.

Ichigo jumped up like she was spring loaded.  "Ok, you have my full and undivided attention.  Tell me what you have to say and then leave me alone."  She said with a rather neutral tone.

"Sorry, can't leave you alone.  My stupid outburst yesterday caused a lot of problems that my dad is going to try to fix.  Once he is done with his little press conference, we, as in most of the people with Saiyan blood on Earth, are going to be having a meeting to figure out whether or not it is worth our time and effort to go help you and your people."

Ichigo just about blew up, but Roshi held up his hand to stop her and continued talking.  "If it were just up to me I know that we would help, because well it is the right thing to do, but there is no assurances that we will beat the Changeling that is coming here.  So, once we are done with that meeting, we are going to be going to Dende's look out and training until the Changeling shows up.  Anyway, I need to get to Capsule Corp.  If you want help or if you want to train with us you need to follow me" He finished.  'There, save the apology for sometime later when I have more time to try to explain myself.'  Roshi thought before taking to the air and heading to Capsule Corp.  As he expected, Ichigo followed silently.

* * *

'Stupid Jerk doesn't even realize why I am mad at him.'  Ichigo thought to herself as she followed Roshi to the Capsule Corp.  As they flew up to the small, yet still huge yellow dome where Slip's lab was located, a large bulbous ship slowly landed near the largest dome of the facility.  'Hmmm, three people on that ship are controlling their ki.  I wonder.  I bet Roshi's father is on that ship.'  Ichigo thought as she followed Roshi into the building and to a large conference room.

There were about sixty or so people in the room.  A few had relatively high ki's for ordinary people, but most seemed to just have a bit more then the normal human would have.

Ichigo stopped following Roshi and he disappeared into the mass of people. 

Shortly there after, the press conference started, and Ichigo started watching as a woman that She guessed was Slips mother and a man stood getting grilled by reporters.  'As Roshi so aptly showed yesterday, they control this planet.  But even though they control it almost totally, they still allow for such stupid wastes of time and energy.  On Saiya no one would dare question my father like that.'  She thought as the conference was held.

* * *

"What do you have to say about the allegations that you fired Miss Ima Gossip in an attempt to prevent her from implicating yourself and Capsule Corp in the destruction of the moon?"  An elderly reporter asked Teddy.

"I was on vacation, so I personally had absolutely nothing to do with what happened Monday night.  I have nothing to hide.  As far as Capsule Corp is concerned, I admit that there could have been better safety systems at the moon facilities.  There were more then enough life pods and ships to evacuate everyone from the moon.  There just was not enough time for them to evacuate.  For this we are deeply sorry, and we are doing everything we can to make it up to the affected families.  We did not cause the deaths of your loved ones, but we feel your loss."  Teddy said calmly.

"Yes, but what about the firing of Ima Gossip?" the reporter asked.

"Yes, I want to hear what kind of lame excuse and sorry statement you make up for firing me for only wanting the truth to be told."  Ima sneered from her podium, which was placed across from the two that Goshu and Teddy stood at.  

Ima and a few other reporters and Government people had been given podiums and were participating in the conference because of their involvement in the last few day's events.

Teddy sighed.  "Do you really want the world to know the truth Ima?  You may not believe me but I didn't say anything because I was trying not to hurt what little of a career you have left as a news reporter."

Ima scoffed.  "I have nothing to fear.  It is not as if your lies can do any more then they already have."

"Are you aware that for security reasons every phone call going into and out of Capsule Corp is recorded?"  Teddy asked.

Ima's left eye started to tic "So, video recordings can be forged and people can be made to say things that are not true."

"So you want me to show it?"

"Your lies can't hurt me any worse then they already have."  Ima replied quickly.

Teddy showed the recording of the phone call.  It was shown split screen so that people could see both what Ima saw, and what Teddy, Goshu, Nail, and Piccolo saw.  A murmur went through the crowd of people at the sight of the two Namekians.  Aliens were not unheard of on Earth, but they were still very rare.

The recording ended.  Teddy turned to Ima and asked, "Is this not the phone call as you remember it?"

"I never participated in this fabrication of a phone call.  And since we all know that you have the technology to make it look like anything you want it to look like you cannot prove it one way or another.  This entire conference is just a farce to make you look good."

Teddy frowned, "Mr. Oyake, the phone transmission had to bounce off of a Government owned comsat to make it to my ship correct?"  She asked the Government official.

"Yes, it did."

"And since it was tagged Alpha Priority and Emergency, the Government made a copy of that transmission correct?"

"Um, yes we did.  It was encrypted to the point were I don't think we will ever get it decrypted.  That and you somehow knew about it and sent us a warning never to do it again as soon as the whole thing ended, but yeah, I have been instructed to be honest here.  We copied the transmission."

"And the phone call with Ima was carried by a separate carrier wave then the rest of the transmission right?"

"Yes it was."

"And you copied that as well?"

"Yes"

Anyone who was paying attention would have noticed Ima's facial tic was getting worse, and she was now sweating in a rather un-lady like amount.

"And you have a digital copy of that here now right?"

"Yes, I do."  He said as he held up a memory stick.

"Ok, since I have no doubt that Ima will claim I changed the message somehow, I need someone with a laptop computer that can display vidphone calls to volunteer their computer."

Several hundred people held up their computers.  "Um, ok to be fair.  Miss Gossip, please pick which computer we will use for this."  Teddy said calmly.

Ima glared at her.  "That one!"  She said pointing at a woman holding up her computer, "it is NOT made by Capsule Corp!"

The woman ran up and tried to give the computer to Teddy, but Teddy told her to give it to Mr. Oyake.

"Ok, Mr. Oyake, you are a trained computer specialist correct?"

"Yes."

"Ok, what I need you to do is I need you to open the recording and have the computer show the source code."

"Ok, done."

"Now, I need you to isolate the first three megabytes of data."

"Ok, done."

"Copy that, then paste it to the front of the file.  That is the decrypt code send with the original message.  Once you have copied it to the front of the file, open the recording and hit play.  It will ask for the password."

"Ok done."  He said as the computer asked for the password only to tell him that ok done was not the password.

Teddy laughed.  "In this case, the password is Speak to me."

Mr. Oyake repeated the password for the computer and it played out the exact same phone call as Teddy had shown a few minutes before.

"Now I should warn you that while the decrypt code is always send with the file, it changes size and location.  So I have not helped you in any way shape or form in your attempt to decrypt the rest of the message."

Mr. Oyake shook his head that he understood.

"Ok, one last thing, since the decrypt was part of the original message, could it have altered the message in any way?"

"Not to my knowledge."  He replied.

"Thank you, would you please give this to Miss Gossip for me?"  Teddy said as she handed an envelope to Mr. Oyake.

"That is a subpoena Miss Gossip.  Goshu, Capsule Corp, and Myself are suing you for Libel and Slander."  Teddy paused to take a breath.  "As you have all seen I fired her not to hide anything but because I was digested by her apparent lack of concern for the victims who died both on the moon and at Homlet on Monday night.  I also fired her because I found her lack of respect for Goshu to be absolutely unforgivable.  He may be well known for being the current World Champion, but he is also on the board of directors here at Capsule Corp. as well as being a Co-Vice President of the Corporation with PJ Briefs being the other."

After a pause she continued.  "Since I would like to think that all news reporters are unbiased and all of you attempt to be honest and caring and truthful in your reporting of the news, I found her actions and words to be contrary to the good of the public that would hear her if I allowed her to continue working at ZTV, so I fired her for being unfit for the job she held.  We were as much victims of Monday as the rest of you.  We were not trying to hide anything.  We could have come forward with what we did know about the attack sooner, and had I been on Planet we would have.  My daughter Slip did a wonderful job in my absence.  Please do not doubt her for her inexperience at handling an event of such magnitude."

A murmur went up through the crowd, then cheers and clapping.

Ima wasn't through yet though.  "That still doesn't excuse the fact that Son Goshu's son was involved in the beating of a innocent man nearly to his death yesterday and then tried to blackmail the world into just letting it go as if nothing had happened!  She says I should respect Goshu for more then being a brute that won a stupid meaningless tournament.  Well I don't.  He is a brute who controls people with his money and his son is even worse.  Just a few weeks ago Roshi attacked the same young man in school breaking his nose and fracturing his cheekbone?  What do you have to say about your violent son and your own violent ways?  Well, I'm waiting!"  Ima yelled.

While Teddy and most of the crowd looked like they were ready to see him rip her head off, Goshu didn't look the slightest bit concerned.  He slowly adjusted the microphone and looked over the crowd.  "It is true that my son had a tantrum yesterday.  It is true that he threatened a lot of people and projects needlessly because he was mad and was not thinking clearly. 

Son Gohan and his wife Videl, who was the daughter of Mr. Satan, founded the Son Foundation almost five hundred years ago.  It has stood the test of time helping build roads, and bridges, Schools, and houses, Towns and even cities.  We do this not to control people, although as Roshi has shown, when one is so economically integrated with the world's economy it does look that way.  Roshi used the Foundation, as it was never intended to be used, and for that he will be punished.  In the mean time, I hope to make it up to the world by tripling the donations and projects that the foundation has underway.  Children who had a parent die either on the Moon or at Homlet will have a trust fund set up for their college educations.  Homlet will be rebuilt.  And I am going to change the way the foundation runs so that now one can ever use it as a tool to manipulate people in such a way again."

Goshu stopped as waves of cheering went up through the crowd.  'Thank Dende for a simple-minded crowd' Goshu thought as he continued.  "Now as for the matter of violence.  Violence never solves anything and causes a lot of problems.  We are appalled at the people who sent you death threats.  I am shocked that people have tried to kill you over Roshi's outburst.  To answer your questions on my being violent, I have to say that, yes I am the current World Champion, but I fully expect to be beaten by Roshi at the next tournament next May."  Goshu grabbed the mic and walked over to a large brick wall next to where the podiums had been set.  He then casually drove his fist through the wall.  The crowd gasped in shock as the wall collapsed.  "If I or any of my students were the violent type, there would not be much to stop us from causing an incredible amount of damage."  He continued.  "I want to make this point very clear to you all.  Roshi is stronger then I am.  From the accounts of teachers and school administrators who I talked to after the fight Roshi had in school a few weeks ago, I know that Roshi was trying to protect a young woman who had dropped her books and was being harassed.  The young man who ended up with the broken nose threw the first punch.  Yesterday, he attempted to assault Roshi and a young woman who is a master martial artist.  The fact that the young man is still alive shows you that Roshi and then the young woman who was defending herself yesterday are not violent.  I admit that the young man was hurt.  Roshi at times does not control his strength as well as he should.  And the young woman, well after the lude comments that were made in her direction I am surprised that she held back as much as she did.  Mr. Satan, and Goku set standards of strength and behavior that my students and I take very seriously.  Few people can punch holes in walls, but having the ability to such things does not make us violent.  On the contrary, I would say it makes us quite the opposite.  With the exception of a few unfortunate incidents such as what Miss Gossip has mentioned, we have always thought of ourselves as keepers of the tradition of being there for your protection.  Mr. Satan saved the world; his descendants try to be there to do the same.  As Monday showed, we can't do everything, but we do try.  Now if you would excuse us, we have important matters to attend to." Goshu said as he started to walk towards the CC building.

The crowd parted and he and Teddy and the various other people who needed to attend the meeting inside followed.  Ima was escorted under police protection to a safe house.  Since the press conference was shown to the entire world, there were probably more then just a few people who would not listen to Goshu's words and would attempt to "get even" with her.

'Roshi is probably not going to forgive me for telling the whole world that he is stronger then I am.  Everyone expects me to be able to knock down walls.  Roshi has spent a good portion of his school life pretending to be an untalented klutz.  

Oh well, he tried to put himself on a pinnacle so everyone could admire his greatness.  Maybe if his ego catches the limelight for a while he may come back down to Earth.'  Goshu thought as he walked into the building.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ichigo had lost interest in the conference.  'I don't like it in here.  There are way too many men in here.'  She thought as she tried to squeeze further back away from most of the mingling people.  Ichigo was slowly sorting things out from what she remembered actually happened Monday night, and from what she had thought was a dream.  As she remembered more, she became far less comfortable thinking about it.  She hadn't thought it was affecting her much, but now she knew she had been wrong.  The sight of so many people that has at least a passing resemblance to Banana sent chills down her spine.  Several times she had almost lashed out at various people for simply brushing into her as they walked by.  'It feels like this room is the size of a small box.'  An unknown pair of men walked past and bumped into her. 

"O, so sorry miss.  Um, are you sure you are in the right place?"  On of them asked her.

"I came here with Roshi."  Ichigo said as she quickly turned and walked away from them.   'No one would be so careless as to even touch me at a gathering at home, but here these people are so informal that they think nothing of it.'  A few images from Monday night flashed before her eyes.  'That isn't helping any.  I need to calm down, I am in a new place with new customs and new people and I cannot let myself prejudge them like I did with Roshi.'

Ichigo was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible when something tugged twice on her braid.  "A..." She almost screamed out in fright, but she clamped a hand over her mouth and spun around to see what had grabbed her hair.  By reflex, she whipped her free hand around ready to attack whatever it was that had disturbed her.  She stopped her fist about a cm before it would have slammed into the face of a little girl. 'That was way way too close for comfort' Ichigo thought as she looked into the huge green eyes of the little girl.  She looked to be all of two or three years old.  She had unruly hair that could have been found on any Saiyan, except for the fact that it was WHITE!  In one hand she held the end of Ichigo's braid, and in the other a gooey lollypop that was at least twice as big as her mouth.  It caused her to have lollypop goo spread all over on her chin and fingers.  'White hair?  This girl wouldn't be in this room is she wasn't one of Roshi's cousins, but if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have never believed it.'  Ichigo thought as she looked up from the little girl to look around the room.  She spotted Max, who had brilliant red hair and continued to ponder.  'Yet Maxine has red hair, and that man near her has normal looking Saiyan hair, yet he must be at least 250 kg!  I've never in my life seen such a fat man!'

"Youw eefen faster then my brover" The little girl chirped up at Ichigo.

Ichigo just gawked down at the girl.  'Oh no!  She isn't going away.  I don't know what do to!!!  I never had to deal with little kids at home!  How do I make her go away and leave me alone?!?!'

"I canna't see.  Wiw youww hewp me look for the monser?"  The little girl asked sweetly.

'That girl is cute enough to gag one of those reporters that keep following Roshi around.  I can hardly make out what she is trying to say with that lollypop in her mouth though.'  Ichigo thought as she continued to look down at the little girl bewildered.

"If youw gif me a piggy back wide, I can wook for the monser"  The little girl said while tugging on Ichigo's braid.

Ichigo pulled her hair out of the sticky grasp of the little girl.  The little girl looked like she was going to cry because she no longer had the hair to hold on to, so Ichigo quickly gave the girl back the end of her braid.  'I wish she wouldn't do that' Ichigo thought as the girl once again tugged on the braid.

Seeing no other route, she kneeled down beside the girl and gently pulled the lollypop out of her mouth.  "Ok, what are you looking for?"  She asked sweetly.

"The monster!" The little girl chirped back.

'Definitely a Saiyan girl if she is looking for the monster rather then running away.'  "Ok, what does the monster look like?"  Ichigo asked.

The little girl looked puzzled.  "I don't know.  Brother said it twied to kill him and was over there."  The girl pointed to a wall that was no more then a few meters away.

'I guess that narrows the list of what and where the monster is.'  Ichigo smirked.  "Did your brother say anything else about the monster?"

"Ah ha, He said it was hot and it was a homis... homisi... da... ah homisi..adaw...  He said it was a something mani..ack and then he called it a really bad bad word that I can't say cause mommy and daddy will get really mad at me."

Ichigo glared off in the direction of Tee.  'I am not some liftskirt bitch, how dare he...' Ichigo stopped and took a deep breath.  'He probably thinks of that as a complement.  Tee is harmless I can forgive him.  However, Call me a homicidal maniac and a monster will he?' Ichigo looked down and smiled at the little girl.  "What is your name?"

"I am Nighty Briefs."  The little girl said proudly.

"Is your brother's name Tee?"  She asked just to make certain that her perceptions were right.

"Ah ha" Nighty smiled a big toothy grin.

Ichigo got an idea.  She pulled her braid forward and plopped it on the ground in front of the little girl.  "You said you wanted a ride?"

Nighty's eyes lit up.  "Yeah!  Piggy back ride!"

Ichigo picked her up and put Nighty on her shoulders, and stood up.  Nighty grabbed Ichigo's braid and pulled it back over Ichigo's shoulder and then started using it as if it were reins for a horse.  

"Giddy up Pony!"  Nighty giggled as she tugged on Ichigo's hair and gently kicked her in the ribs.

Ichigo cringed and rolled her eyes.  She hadn't the slightest idea what a pony was, but she could guess.  'Me and my bright ideas.' Ichigo thought as she started to search out Tee.

"No, no, no!  Ponies are supposed to bounce like they are running!"  Nighty whined.

Reluctantly, Ichigo added a slight bounce to her walk as she located Tee and Boxers by their ki and headed in their direction.  She walked up behind Tee and placed a hand on his shoulder.  "Hello Tee.  I am helping your sister look for a monster.  You wouldn't have happened to have seen a homicidal maniac bad bad word that your sister can't say monster around here would you have?"  She said with a glaring smirk and an evilly humorous glint in her eyes.

"Ah..." Tee squeaked before turning around and running out of the room.

Boxers started laughing so hard he almost fell over.  Ichigo would have probably allowed herself to do the same if she hadn't been carrying around a little girl.

"Oh, you are just evil!"  Boxers said as he slowly started to recover.  "But he deserved it."

Ichigo smiled, and former reservations forgotten turned to go bounce around the room with the happily squealing little girl.

* * *

Roshi followed his father into the room.  'My life is over.  My life is over.  Thanks dad, but I might as well go kill myself, my life is over.'  He was trying to make it over to where he had saw Boxers standing, but was intercepted by PJ Briefs first.

"Well if it isn't Roshi!  Or should I call you Mr. Foot in Mouth?"  PJ asked with a smirk and a playfully chiding tone.

Roshi couldn't help flinching.  'Ouch, being called Foot in Mouth by Tee's dad hurts.'

"Maybe we should rename him One who speaks with foot in his mouth." a well-aged old man said as he walked up.  Roshi turned to look at Chief Upa.  Upa was a descendent of Bikini, and was also the Chief of the group of Indians who lived near Korrin's Tower.

"Oh, or possibly Child who eats foot.   Yes, I like that name."  Upa said with a smile.  Upa found it funny to name all of his non-Indian relatives with the oddest Indian names. 

Upa put a hand on Roshi's shoulder and leaned in close.  "Don't worry about what has happened.  People like him are just jealous of all the attention you are getting."

PJ laughed.  "No thank you!  I actually don't mind it a bit that you and your father and of course Teddy like to stay in the warm glow of the spotlights.  I think I would get a sunburn."  He laughed.  "I should be more serious, setting a bad example here for the irresponsible young people such as yourself Roshi."  PJ said before changing his tone of voice and becoming serious.  "It isn't my place to berate you for your actions, but you sure couldn't have picked a better way to cause a mass hysteria.  It is going to take us months to fix all the problems your little stunt caused."

'That's assuming we have months to fix the problems.  I won't doubt it, but with a Changeling coming here, I won't hold my breath either.' Roshi thought as shook his head to what PJ had said.  "I have no excuse for my actions.  I have no doubt that it has and will cause Capsule Corp and my father a lot of problems over the next few months."  Roshi said apologetically.

Upa slowly shook his head.  "I saw your fight on Sunday, Roshi.   I know you saved my village and probably the world.  I have no doubt that you did that again on Monday.  If the rumors of a Changeling coming are true, I doubt your father called us all here to scold you and worry about such superficial things as money and lost prestige."  Upa said looking at PJ and then at several others in the gathering who could be overheard talking about Roshi in negative ways.

PJ swallowed.  "Quite right.  Go and find Tee.  I understand you have been trying to make him useful at fighting.  It is a bit late for me to pick up the little amount of training your namesake gave me, but I am glad that you have tried to get Tee to train."

"Ah, thank you.  Yeah, I guess I will talk to you later."  Roshi said as he quickly walked away towards where he had seen Boxers and Tee.  "Hey, where did Tee go?  I felt him run out of here a few minutes ago."  He asked Boxers.

Boxers broke out laughing.  After a few moments, he was able to talk again.  "Um, I think he needed to change his clothes.  I think Ichigo made him piss his pants."

"Why?  What did she do now?"  Roshi said grimacing and fearing for the worst.

"Oh, she didn't do anything.  Tee was calling Ichigo all kinds of nasty things.  He was calling her a monster and stuff.  Anyway, Nighty had been standing near by and had heard him.  She went to go find the terrible monster, and well, Ichigo turned his words on him."  Boxers said pointing across the room to were Ichigo stood hopping from one foot the other bouncing a laughing Nighty around.

Roshi practically had to pick his jaw off the floor.  "What the heck is that?  She... She... She..." he said lost for words.

"I know," Boxers laughed.  "That girl has more sides then this building has rooms."

'I'll be damned Who would have thought a tough and nasty warrior woman would be able to cook AND look like she likes little kids.  I don't think I will ever get women.  I thought she was confusing before.'  Roshi thought as several huge sweat drops formed and fell off of his face.

* * *

Nighty slowly stopped laughing and fell asleep on Ichigo's shoulders.  Her head now rested peacefully on top of Ichigo's.  'This is just great.  I can't put Nighty down, cause then she will wake up and cause me even more problems.'  Ichigo sighed.  'Guess I just get to hold her for a while.' She thought as she watched Goshu walk up to the front of the room.

"I know many of you are upset about how Roshi made us look like arrogant blackmailing control freaks."  Goshu said to bring the informal meeting to order.

"Damn straight!"  Someone yelled from the back.

"Roshi is not about to get off without punishment for his misuse of the Foundation, but right now it does not matter."  Goshu said over the people who agreed with the one who had shouted out.  Needles to say, this commentary did not sit well with many of the people in the room.  Goshu continued to talk over the murmur.  "There is a Changeling coming to Earth.  That Changeling is coming here to kill us.  If we do not prepare for it then the people who died on the moon and at Homlet on Monday are going to have a lot of company in the afterlife.  If we survive, then we can worry about how to fix the problems Roshi has inadvertently caused."

Surprisingly, not a single person said anything.  When Goshu stopped talking it was dead quite.

"The other important point of interest is that for the first time since Vegeta died, there is a full blooded Saiyan on Earth.  Ah there she is."  Goshu said pointing directly at Ichigo.

Everyone in the room turned to look at Ichigo.  Ichigo shuddered.  'So much for being inconspicuous.'  She thought as she unconsciously tried to shrink away from the people who were looking at her.

Nighty choose that moment to wake up.  She opened her eyes to see everyone looking at her.  Being a little kid she did what little kids do best.  Bouncing her heels off Ichigo's chest, she yanked on her braid and yelled.  "Go Pony go!"

This brought a large amount of laughter and caused Ichigo to cringe and turn several shades of red.  It also caused five or six of the other little kids who were in the room to come running at Ichigo wanting their "Pony ride."  Upon seeing the kids running at her, most of the color drained from Ichigo's face.  She quickly put Nighty down, much to Nighty's displeasure, and then floated up out of reach and towards the front of the room.  Her obvious retreat in the face of the little kids brought more laughter but she didn't care.  'I am a Princess.  I don't need to care what they think about me.'  She reminded herself while genuinely feeling very embarrassed.

Ichigo flew up onto the raised dais but landed a good ten feet from Goshu.  He looked over at her and gave her an odd look.  Ichigo shuddered.  Ichigo couldn't help but feel vulnerable with all eyes on her.  That, and the fact that Goshu was about the same age and build as Banana just gave her the willies.  
PJ walked over and tried to shush his whining daughter.  Nighty looked up at him with her big tear filled eyes and asked, "Daddy give me ride?"

PJ kneeled by her.  "No, Nighty, Daddy is busy right now.  Go play with Panny and Socks," he said as he pointed to two of her similarly aged cousins.

Nighty stomped her foot and cried.  "I want my Pony ride back!"

This brought more snickers and several people looked at Ichigo as if expecting her to some how fix the situation.  

'I'm not a nanny' She thought as she tried to ignore all the people looking at her.

"Anyway," Goshu said to get everyone's attention again, "I believe your name is Ichigo correct?"

"Yes."

"Ok, just making sure."  He said with a glint in his eyes that told her he knew about her earlier deception.  "Anyway, Ichigo came here because a group of Changelings has attacked her planet.  The planet that our Saiyan ancestors actually came from.  The Saiyans who attacked on Monday had followed her here to kill her as they were working for the Changelings.  And Dende has informed me that a Changeling is coming here to finish the job if they fail.  Well, they have failed, so we can expect the Changeling to come.  We need to get prepared."

"I really don't see why."  Chichi Gla'mor said as she squeezed her way towards the front of the room.  Chichi was one of the most famous actresses in the world.  She was the pinnacle of fashion and was used to having people practically worship the ground she walked on.  "We could just have Buu kill the Changeling when it gets here.  I don't get why Roshi wasn't smart enough to get Buu in the first place."

"He was, but Buu is no longer available.  We have to do this alone because there is not going to be anyone else to help us."  Goshu said.

Ichigo was very rapidly lowering her opinion of Roshi's relatives.  'Saiyans don't panic like this.'  She thought as she watched the entire room go up in an uproar of concern and frantic comments.  Several people screamed that they were all going to die.  A few others were asking about getting a ship and evacuating before the Changeling got there.  Still others were just struck speechless.

Raven, Upa's daughter spoke up,  "Why don't we just kick her off the planet?  It seems to me that all the problems are because she is here.  It would logically dictate that the problems would go away if she went away."

Some of the people looked like they were appalled by the thought, but most of them seemed to like the idea of sending Ichigo away.

Ichigo tasted blood and realized that she had bit through her lip.  'Well I had WANTED to leave, but Roshi said that these morons would help me.  These people aren't Saiyans.  I knew that from the beginning.  No hybrid has ever been allowed to be called a Saiyan before.  I shouldn't have started thinking of them as Saiyans.  Bunch of worthless cowards.'  She had a temptation to kill a bunch of the idiots who were agreeing with the woman who spoke out.

"Actually, what I want to know is why she is even here in the first place."

Ichigo looked over at Goshu to see what he would say.  The man looked surprisingly calm for one who appeared to be loosing control of a meeting.  

"Why do you say that?"  He asked.

"Well, First we have the fact that she did not come here for help.  She came here after killing several researchers in space and a farmer on Namek.  From what I have been told, she fought Piccolo on Namek and then immediately attacked Roshi here on Earth.  He beat her, and then after being given what would have been a deadly wounding gave her a Senzu bean to save her life!..."

'What?  Deadly wound my rear!  I thought I was hurting him, but after what I saw on Monday, or at least what I can remember seeing on Monday, I know better then to think I hurt the jerk.'  Ichigo thought in disgust as she clenched her fists.

Gotan continued, "...According to Upa, during that battle, Roshi threw himself into a ki blast that would have wiped out his entire tribe and their village.  Then Roshi in his infinite wisdom lets her stay in Pan's old bedroom where she some how managed to fire several ki blasts into the dinning room floor!"  Gotan stopped to let the indignant outcry calm down before continueing.  "Not only that, but she lied to us and gave a false name which was only discovered because those other Saiyans came to kill her.  I will admit that Roshi fought well, but SHE is the one who blew up the moon.  She killed thousands of people when she could have done numerous other things to end that battle.  I want to know why she is not locked up in some room were she cannot cause us any more harm.  Or better yet why we haven't sent her away already.  She showed yesterday that she is prone to lashing out at the weak and defenseless.  Why are we helping her?  Roshi should have killed her in the first place.  The fact that he stupidly risked his life to save her on Monday was noble but it cost over 4000 lives.  Was she worth it?  Roshi may think he is being the chivalrous knight here, but we have prioritys that need to be looked at, and I say that the people of Earth deserve to be our priority.  Teddy said it herself.  Our family, even the ones not related to Mr. Satan are looked at as protectors.  Well I ask are we protecting the right things?"  Gotan asked before turning and replying over his back, "choose what you will, it is not like I will be able to stop you and your all powerful-yet blind to the real world son," as he walked out of the room.

The majority of the room seemed to agree with Gotan.

"You people are pathetic.  You call yourselves Saiyans, but you are only a bunch of cowards.  I don't need to listen to this."  She looked over at Roshi, "you can find me if you actually decide to do anything but cower in a corner."  With that Ichigo left the room.  A few people tried to stop her, but she just knocked them aside like they were not even there and walked out.

* * *

Roshi couldn't help but feel a sense of immanent doom as the mood in the room continued to shift downward.  'Great, not only does my dad make me the scapegoat to the entire world, but also now I actually am the one who allowed the events to happen.  Can my life get any more complicated?'  He asked himself.

Then Ichigo spoke and left.  

'Yes, yes it can.  It can ALWAYS get worse.  As much as I realize what I did in the mall was wrong, I know that my other actions have been right.  But how do I get them to see that?'

Goshu glanced at Roshi again.  'Why does he keep looking at me?  I'm not going to open my mouth.  After the crap I've taken no one would listen anyway.'

"I agree with Gotan.  Since Buu isn't here to protect us, we need to think about what we can actually do.  Roshi should have let her die on Sunday or Monday, but he didn't.  It doesn't really matter, I say we send her away now and be done with it."  Raven spoke.

"I agree" Chichi said immediately.

Many people started to add their comments to the discussion.  There was still some who wanted to flee, but the majority wanted to just send Ichigo directly to the Changelings as a peace gift.

Roshi saw his father looking at him again with an upraised eyebrow.

"What?"  Roshi mouthed to his father.

"Don't you have something to say?"  Goshu mouthed back.

"No.  They wouldn't listen anyway," Roshi mouthed.

"Okay, if you say so."  Goshu mouthed before turning back to the rest of the people.  "So, you don't believe that we can stop the changeling?"  He asked the room.

"How can we?"  Raven asked.  Most of us have had no training of any kind.  We are really just ordinary people.  We don't want to get involved in these things.  Besides, unless you haven't told us something, there are no Super Saiyans anymore.  We can't just blindly hope for the best.  The smart thing, the correct thing for us to do is to cut our losses now."

A voice from the back started talking.  Roshi realized it was Frank, Slip's father, which surprised him, because only people with Saiyan blood were supposed to be at the meeting.  But, somehow, he got in.

"Goshu, I am not really part of this family.  I have never understood you people.  I dearly love my wife and I have tried to understand, but I don't.  What I do understand is that you are not Mr. Satan, or Goku, or Gohan, or any of your other heroic ancestors.  Don't let your ego's blind you.  You cannot be heroes today, because the world does not need heroes right now.  These people" He said as he pointed around the room, "understand that.  What the world needs now is strategy and diplomacy.  I have no idea what a changeling is, but I have seen what you and your son can do in your so-called sparring matches.  If this Changeling worries you, then send the girl away and be done with it.  Why take the chance and put us all at risk?"

Roshi looked at his father in wonder.  'Why isn't he stopping this?  He could have them doing whatever he wanted in a moment if he only tried to talk some sense into them.  And why does he keep looking at me like that?'  He thought as he caught another glance from his father.

Roshi listened to the conversations and statements in the room for another minute.  Almost none of the people where in favor of even trying to fight the Changeling.

Roshi caught another glance.  'Ok so he is waiting for me to say something.  I get it.  But why?  They won't listen to me.  All I have accomplished in their eyes is cause more trouble.

"Yeah, think about what Goku would have done.  He wouldn't have put everyone in so much risk just for his own ego.  Why do you want to fight the Changeling?  Why take the risk?"  Someone Roshi couldn't pick out of the crowd asked.

'That's it.  I can't take this anymore.'  Roshi thought as he walked up to the front of the room.  

"Because it is the right thing to do."  He said.  His voice cracked as he said it and everyone in the room saw that he didn't really want to be speaking. 

"Like you have the right to talk to us about what is right or wrong!"  Someone from the back scoffed.

"Let him speak.  While experience brings wisdom, it also at times brings blindness.  He may see something that you all have forgotten."  Goshu said calmly before smiling at his son and indicating to continue.

Roshi started shakily but became more sure the longer he spoke.  "I may not be as old or a wise as some of you.  I know I messed up yesterday.  But I know in my soul, in my heart, that fighting the Changeling is the right thing to do."

"The right thing to do would have been to kill the girl after she attacked you on Sunday.  Or better, you should have just let those Saiyans kill her on Monday.  Your involvement has already cost over 5,000 lives.  How many more will it cost before you grow up and learn that the world isn't just rights and wrongs, but shades of gray?  We can't risk letting a Changeling come here."  Raven said sternly.  "If Buu were here, it would be one thing, but he isn't.  We need to think about what we know we can do.  Not what we hope we can accomplish.  Without Buu, we can't beet a Changeling.  That is the fact.  That is what we need to be concerned with.  Not whether or not it feels good to think happy thoughts and hope for the best.  We need to think about all the people of the Earth, as well as ourselves."  She pointed to PJ and Nighty and continued.  "How can we put so many people at such great risk?"

'Crap, how do I say what I need to say?'  Roshi thought to himself.  He slowly focused his thoughts and put them to words.

"Raven, I see your point.  I however, see the risk as acceptable.  You wish Buu were here so he could handle it. You wonder why Ichigo is still alive and why she is free and not locked up.  Well, I tell you this, Buu is gone for a reason!  Were Buu here, Ichigo would surely have died last Sunday.  The Saiyans who came on Monday would have died as well.  Life here would go on as normal and we would not have any tough things to think about.  Well, Buu isn't here.  Ichigo is alive, and if we are going to defeat the Changeling we will need her help.  I for one, plan on fighting it when it comes here.  I am not going to fight to glorify my name in an attempt to become a hero or to become great.  I am not fighting because I want to.  I wish there was a better way, but there isn't.  I am definitely not fighting for Ichigo's sake.  I am fighting because it is the right thing to do.  If I don't fight.  If I allow you to ship Ichigo away, and trust me I have been tempted to do so already, then I would be failing you and her and the people of Earth, but more importantly I will be failing myself.  If I don't fight, I will be saying that the sacrifices that Goku, and Vegeta, and the others made did not mean anything.  If I do that, I will be giving up on the values that make me who I am.  Goku wasn't Mr. Satan.  Vegeta hated the public.  They never wanted to be heroes.  I don't either."

"Oh, and before you once again talk about the chance of us losing everything if we do fight, Goku stepped down in his fight with Cell and had Gohan fight.  He didn't know if Gohan could make it to level two!  When Buu was still under the control of Babidi, Goku could have killed him.  He took a chance that Trunks and Goten would learn the Fusion Dance and be able to beat Buu.  He didn't know if they could, but he took a chance that Gohan and Trunks and Goten to become more then they were.  As long as Buu was here we were safe.  We had our training wheels, our safety net.  He protected us, but he also took away our need to take risks and chances.  Goku didn't have that luxury, and now neither do we.  He took the chances.  Because to not try.  To not take those chances would have been giving in.  It would have been giving up.  People who do great things are never remembered for the things that they gave up on.  I know we can beat the Changeling.  I know it, and I know that I have to try.  Not only for the reasons I have just named but because if these things are not worth fighting for, then I really don't know what I have that is worth living for."

Roshi stopped as the room erupted with people who thought Roshi was contemplating suicide, or just giving up on everything.

"I ask you this.  If the people of Earth, and the Saiyans on Saiya and just the fact that the Changelings are evil and relentless and will no doubt come here eventually anyway is not worth fighting for?  Then what is worth living for?  Goku died to save the Earth twice.  Vegeta died twice as well.  Both times he died fighting for the things he believed in most.  There is no guarantee that we can beat the Changeling.  But to not take that chance.  To not fight is the same as turning our backs on ourselves.  Is the illusion of safety worth that?"

Roshi paused to let them think for a while.  "I am sorry that the people on the Moon and in Homlet died because I chose to fight.  Their deaths were not in vain though.  We did beat those Saiyans.  It had a terrible price.  But we beat them.  Now I ask you this.  Is sacrificing, forgetting the very beliefs which made our ancestors great, ourselves, Ichigo, and all the Saiyan people without even trying worth the cost it will bare on our souls?  How much is a life worth?    Frieza killed every single Namekian to get his hands on their Dragon balls.  They were no threat to him, but he killed them anyway."

"The reason Ichigo is here in the first place is because the Changelings in the part of the Universe that she comes from are afraid, just as Frieza became fearful of the Saiyans on Vegeta.  One is following her through the wormhole she came through.  Even if we send her away to die as a peace offering, it won't appease the Changelings long.  They will come.  Whether we fight now or later they will come.  I for one would much rather be fighting on my own terms with my heart in it then fight later knowing how the time between now and later was bought with such an expensive sacrifice.  How much value can you place in a life?"

"Whether it is mine, yours, the people of this planet, or the people of Saiya, how much value is in one life?  Giving up on any one life just to make our lives easier is wrong.  Don't lie to yourselves, Ichigo won't be the only one to die if we send her away.  If we send her away, then all hope for her people is lost.  If we give up and don't fight then all of the Saiyans on Saiya are dead.  If we give up and send her away, then we will truly be living up to the image that Ima made for us.  We have lived in the shadows of Goku and Buu too long.  We have a chance to do something great.  Greatness is never easy.  It always has a price.  This is a chance to step out of the shadows and become more then we are.  Or, we can sell ourselves short sacrificing our very hearts, our morals, our values, and millions if not billions of people on the chance that sending her away will make our lives easier.  That is wrong. I know it, and I know you know it."

 If you would excuse me, I have some training to do.  Good-bye.  I hope to see some of you before the Changeling gets here.  I hope to see all of you alive after the Changeling has been defeated."  With that, Roshi walked out the door.

* * *

Goshu watched his son leave the room.  A small smile slowly formed on his face.  'To Roshi nothing has ever been impossible.  All he had to do was try, and he could do anything.  However, nothing he did ever had consequence before.  This past two weeks has been good for him.  He has learned that his actions have consequence to himself and to others.  He has convinced them with his deep felt words what I could never convince them in a thousand years.  We will be fighting now.  We always would be, but now, we will have the support and help of the rest of the family.  Roshi is also right.  Buu was our safety net, without him, we will need all the help we can get.' 

Goshu set his thoughts aside and concentrated on the meeting as he sensed Roshi fly off in the direction Ichigo had flown. 

* * *

Up on Kaioshin's planet, Goku smiled.  "You are right Goshu, nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.  Roshi is determined to prevail."  Goku shook his head.  "He has Vegeta's pride, nothing will stop him now."

Kaioshin walked up.  "Nothing but his own fear you mean don't you?"

Goku turned and shook his head.  "No, fear can be a powerful motivator too.  I have no doubt that Roshi will use it.  My only doubts are in the determination of the rest of them.  He can't do it alone."

Kaioshin laughed.  "You mean he isn't you?"

Goku shook his head.  "I was never alone.  Even on Namek I was never alone."

* * *

(This AN was written in June when this chapter was originally posted)

There you have it.  Thank you for reading.  Please Review  I really do want to read your comments.

I also could not help but think about the events of 9-11 while thinking about this chapter.  It made me think about the loss of life and how we value it, and our ideals.

Therefore, this chapter is being Re-dedicated to all who have been affected by Sept 11.  I know it has been over half a year, but the memories remain.  What the world needs now more then ever is heroes.  Whether they be the Firefighters, Police, Volunteers, the US Armed Forces who are once again being called on to protect the very beliefs and hopes and dreams upon which this county is based, or the made up ones like Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and even Roshi.  Our actions have consequence, may we all be heroes to someone.  God Bless America, peace be with you.

To those readers who are not American, God bless you as well, peace be with you.  May your nations may never suffer for in tragic bloodshed.

Special thanks to Mahonuts (sorry you lost the dedication man), and ST1 who both helped me to make this chapter better.  Oh, and to OmegaNY for being honest and telling me that Roshi's speech sucked.

The Smooster.

Ok, to all my faithful reviewers, I have been a lousy reviewer myself.  If you have a fic that you would like to have me review don't hesitate to drop me a line on it.  I can't promise to like it or be fast about my review, but I can promise you a good honest review or two. 


	32. Encounters of the Misfortunate Kind

This chapter is dedicated to Mahonuts, and Digifan, as they have faithfully reviewed since the very beginning.  Special thanks to ST1 (you know why)

Chapter 32

Encounters of the Misfortunate Kind

Friday, June 20th

1:00 P.M.

Ichigo shoved a shorter man who was trying to block the door out of her way and stormed out of the large conference room.

Trust, and hope are interesting emotions, at times they are strong enough to weather any storm and blunt any attack.  In others, they are fickle and weak.  The slightest bump in the path one takes can sever the ties.

Now was one such moment.  Ichigo felt betrayed.  She was once again all alone in the universe.  'I new better then to hope that they would help me save my people.  None of them have the heart to fight.  They are cowards.  Hypocrites and cowards.  They long ago conquered this planet.  Only they did it with lies and technology.  They buy their way out of problems and cover up what they don't want known.'  Ichigo shook her head and walked down a set of stairs that seemed to be headed in the direction she needed to go.

'I cannot believe I let myself trust them!  They don't deserve to be called Saiyans.  Cowards all of them!'  Ichigo thought to herself as she stomped down the circular hallway.

Looking around, she realized that she had just passed the stairs she had walked down again.  She had absolutely no idea how to get out of the domed building.  Flying straight up and out the roof was an option, but Ichigo decided that she would only do that if she ran out of other options.  She realized that she had walked past a hallway that headed towards the outer wall, so she turned around and soon found that hallway.  The closer to the outer wall she could get, the easier finding the door would be, she decided.

She soon found herself in another hallway that seemed to circle the building, so she followed it until she found the Statue of Vegeta's father.

"King Vegeta, the very words are treasonous."  She nearly spat at the statue.  Bending down, she forcefully ripped the placard off of the column on which the statue stood.  She then shredded it like it was paper.

Slowly exhaling, she relaxed a little bit.  "There, now I feel better."  She said to herself as she placed a small ball of ki into the statue's cupped hands.  'Just because they don't know how to train doesn't mean I don't.'

She walked down the hallway and approached the small computer counsel near the vault doors.

"This facility has been sealed.  Please state your name for authorization."  An annoying female voice informed her as she placed her hands on the counsel.

"I am Ichigo Kudamono"  Ichigo said while remembering how Boxers had opened the door the first time.

"Invalid Identification.  Security procedure gamma initiated."  The voice informed her as a bluish energy field crackled to life between her and the door.

"Open the door you stupid computer!"  Ichigo growled as she slammed her fist into the counsel.  The counsel shattered and started to smoke.

Suddenly a hologram of a teal haired woman who looked a lot like an older version of Slip appeared before Ichigo.  "VEGETA HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO CONTROL YOU TEMPER AND NOT BREAK THINGS?!?!  If you want into your Gravity room, then you can darn well fix that computer panel yourself.  And don't you dare go claiming you're the man of the house or some bullshit like that.  This is MY house and I'm sick of you breaking things!!"

Ichigo glared at the spot where the woman had been standing.  'I am NOT Vegeta.  And the damn panel deserved it.'  She thought looking at the smoking panel.

Ichigo looked at the crackling energy field that was in front of the door to the Gravity Room.  'If they think this pathetic energy field will keep me out of that room, they are sadly mistaken.'  

Ichigo fired a fairy strong ki blast into the field and the field collapsed as if it were tissue paper.  'Technology will never be a match against a good strong ki.  Now for this stupid door.'

She walked up to the door and pulled back her right arm.  "KIIIII PUNCH!!"  She yelled as she forced her glowing fist towards the door.

It never made contact.  About 6cm in front of the door her fist slammed into something that felt like a prickly wall.  The invisible wall rippled like a pool of water that had been disturbed by a stone.  The ripples shot away from her hand and carried her built up ki away with them.

No more then a few milliseconds later, the ripples reached the ring that surrounded the door and rebounded.  Ichigo's peripheral vision was good enough that she could see the ripples getting bigger as they closed in on her right arm, which was now caught up to the wrist in this prickly energy field that wouldn't let go.

"Ahhhhh!"  She screamed out as the ripples closed around her arm and sheets of bluish purple energy shot up her arm and crackled over her body.  Ardent flame shot through her nerves as her entire arm went numb.

The last thing Ichigo sensed before passing out was being thrown back the 100 meter length of the hallway to have her head slam into the base of the statue of Vegeta's father.

* * *

Ichigo woke to the sensation of little tiny needles all over her body.

Tug

And someone pulling on her hair.

By reflex, she jumped up and almost fell over as a wave of vertigo passed through her head.

Bonk!

Ichigo looked up in time to see Nighty falling from the ceiling.  Ichigo quickly took three steps and caught the girl before she could plant her face into the floor.

"Owwwwieeeeee!"  Nighty cried as she tried to reach up with her right hand but then stopped and cradled her arm while rubbing her head with her left arm.

Ichigo looked around and quickly put two and two together.  'Nighty must have been pulling on my hair when I woke up and didn't let go when I jumped up.  The poor girl got launched into the ceiling.'

Ichigo started to put the girl down, but Nighty cried out when Ichigo bumped her right shoulder.

Ichigo quickly put her down and gently prodded the shoulder.

"AHH!  Owwwieee that hurts."  Nighty cried as big huge tears started rolling down her face.

'When I jumped up she didn't let go, and I dislocated her shoulder.  Poor thing, I need to pop it back into place, but I don't want cause her any more pain then I already have.'  Earlier anger forgotten, Ichigo set about helping Nighty.

"I... I ooonwwy wannated aaa ppony ri...ide."  Nighty said as she started to bawl.

'NOOOOOOOO!!!  NOO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!! Don't cry on me, don't do this!'  The differences between her culture and Nighty's slammed into Ichigo with full force.  While children such as Nighty were generally allowed to play and enjoy life to it's fullest, tears were unacceptable at any age.  To break down and cry was thought as a weakness, a flaw in character.  Of all emotions that Ichigo could have or would have been prepared to handle, tears were not one of them.  Especially since she had caused them.

"Please stop crying."  She pleaded with the little girl.

Nighty's big bright green eyes looked up into Ichigo's, and started to tear even faster.  "Baauuutt i.. it tt huuurrttts."  

'Oh please stop.  Please stop.  What do I do?  What do I do?'

Nighty's sobs started to grow louder.

Ichigo quickly gently placed two fingers over Nighty's mouth.  "Shhh shhhh shhhhh  It will be alright.  Just calm down."  

Ichigo remembered a lounge area just a little way down the hall from where they were at, so she slowly lead Nighty to it and sat her down on a big plush couch.

Ichigo then quickly searched the lounge area to see if she could find something that would work for Nighty to bite down on.  Not finding anything, she walked back to Nighty who was still whimpering.

"Ok, I need to fix your arm now ok?  It is going to hurt a lot for a little bit, but then it will get better.  Ok?"  She asked kneeling in front of the girl.

"Ah huh."  Nighty said quietly.

"Ok, now I need you to stand up."  Ichigo motioned and Nighty stood up.  "Now, I know this isn't perfect, but bite down on this.  It will help the pain some."  Ichigo said while sticking her braid in front of Nighty's mouth.

Nighty made a face.  "Icky no."  She said back before clamping her lips shut and shaking her head no.

"I know, I know, but just for a little bit.  If you don't I can't fix your arm and it will keep hurting."  Ichigo pleaded with Nighty.

After a little bit, Nighty relented and after smelling the braid, bit into it the side of it.

Crack!  

"AAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"  Nighty squealed as Ichigo quickly popped the girl's shoulder back in place.

"Ok, I'm done.  Does it feel better now?  Can you lift your arm?"  Ichigo asked looking into the girl's face.

Nighty on the other hand was busy spitting hair out of her mouth and trying to breathe.  "PT, Plah, PSST, bleah, phaack, pst, pah, ICKY!"

Ichigo held up her braid and looked at the crescent shaped gouge that had been bitten out of it.  'She bit all the way through my hair!'  Ichigo looked back at Nighty who was using both hands to try to scrape hair off of her tongue.  'Well at least I know her arm works now, but I never expected her jaws to be that strong.  Good thing I didn't let her bit down on my hand like I had thought about for my second option.  That could have hurt.'

Ichigo picked Nighty up and then held her up so she could rinse out her mouth at the nearby water fountain.

"Now, you shouldn't be using that arm for a while.  Otherwise you might cause damage to...  Never mind, you just shouldn't use that arm, so I'm going to give you my sash ok?"  Ichigo said as she took off her obi which in all actuality didn't do anything anyway and tied it around Nighty as a sling.  "Now, I can't give you a pony ride because that might hurt, so what should I do with you?"

"But I want a pony ride!"  Nighty whined while stomping on the floor.

"I know, but you can't have one.  I think I know what to do though.  Come over here and sit down on that couch ok?"

* * *

Roshi walked out the door of the conference room and quickly walked around the curve of the building.   Once he was out of sight, he leaned into the wall and tapped his forehead into it.  'I am an idiot.  What the heck was I thinking?'

Shaking his head he looked at the sky.  "Dende, I just told off my entire family.  As if my outburst yesterday wasn't bad enough now I have to go and insult my entire family.  I can't believe I lost it in there like that.  Damn I'm stupid!"

"Have you ever heard the phrase that a brave man is foolish man who is willing to sacrifice himself for his ideals.  Where as, a hero is a brave man who is foolish enough to save other brave men from their foolishness?"

Roshi looked up to see who spoke to him.  "Yoshi?"

Son Yoshi smiled as he looked over at Roshi.  "What you did in there was foolish, but it was also very brave and very honest and you spoke from your heart.  Remember that the difference between insanity and genius can only be measured by the result not by the method.  Who is to say what the right thing to do is until the time to act has past?  You at least have chosen a path to take when the time comes to act."

Roshi shook his head.  "Now I remember why you're my favorite uncle.  So do you think I was right?"

Yoshi smirked, "It doesn't really matter what I believe.  What matters is what you believe, and I think you made that sufficiently clear."

Roshi cocked one of his eyes at Yoshi, "Oh no you don't.  I don't need anyone to patronize me.  Please, be honest, do you think I am fighting for the wrong cause here?"

Yoshi sighed.  "Kid, the problem with ideals is that they can very rarely stand up to the pressures of the real world.  Yes, I think you are fighting for the right thing.  I will be joining you and anyone else who shows up at the Lookout for training.  That said, if things go badly for us, you will be the one who will pay the price to the survivors.  If there are survivors."

'Thanks, as if I didn't know that already.  Then again, I would rather be in my position then Ichigo's.  If she fails her mission, she will doom everyone she ever knew.'

"Hey, kid, don't worry about it.  That's just why we are going to have to win."

Roshi looked up.  "Thanks Uncle Yoshi.  I need to go find Ichigo and see if I can't work some things out with her."

"Yeah, you do that.  Oh and Roshi, take it from me, the way she was playing with Nighty earlier, that girl's a keeper."  Yoshi said as he winked and then turned to walk away.

Drip...  Drop...  Drip...  Several large sweat drops hit the floor before Roshi willed himself to start breathing again.  'JOKE  That was a joke.  He is only teasing.  I don't want anything to do with her in that manner.  Remember Mauled by a bear.  Heck, Mauled by a T-Rex then a bear.  She might be nice to little kids, but you are not a little kid Roshi.  She'll rip your heart out and spit on it before she would ever be...  Stop.  I'm not even going to think about it.'

Roshi forced himself to start thinking about how he would make it up to Mariah and Kit and all of his friends once his life returned to normal.

With pleasant thoughts about how his quasy date the Friday before passing through his head, he went in search of Ichigo.

* * *

Roshi sensed her ki downstairs so he took the stairs and then slowly walked towards where she was.  Since he could tell she was with someone else, but didn't know who, he walked slowly and silently while depressing his ki as much as he could.  He wanted to see who she was with and what she was doing.

Roshi carefully peered though the large arched doorway that lead to a darkened lounge area.  What he saw amazed him.

Ichigo had turned off the lights to the lounge, so the only light was from a few windows that looked out into the hallway and the door.  She was sitting in one of the chairs across from Nighty.

Between the two of them were five brilliantly colored stars of ki energy.  Ichigo was using her hands to control them like a puppeteer controls a puppet.  A blue one danced in front of Nighty's face and she quickly poked it with her left hand.  It burst like a bubble and sent little blue dots off to fade as they fell.  Soon Nighty caught sight of a spinning red star and she tried to catch it, but it spun away from her and danced past her ear.

"Oh, you have to be faster.  I'm not going to just let you catch them that easily"  Ichigo teased playfully as a green ki bubble that actually looked like a bubble of some sort of radioactive goop landed on Nighty's nose.

Nighty squealed in pleasure as she tried to grab it and missed allowing it to bounce off her arm and through her hair.  She then tried to reach up with her right hand and grab it but Ichigo quickly leaned forward and stopped her.  

"Ah ah ah."  Ichigo said shaking her head.  "You don't want to do that."  She finished placing Nighty's arm back into the makeshift sling.

'I wonder if the sling is some sort of training tool for this game that Ichigo is playing, or if Nighty hurt her arm somehow.'  Roshi thought from the doorway as Ichigo sat back down and caused the five ki balls to form into a brightly colored caterpillar like thing that snaked its way around Nighty making her laugh.

Roshi couldn't handle it any longer and he knew Ichigo wouldn't take it well if it appeared as though he was spying on her, so he walked into the room.  "That's amazing.  Where did you learn that?"

Ichigo practically jumped through the ceiling.  She lost concentration and the five balls of ki burst sending a rainbow of sparkling light shooting around the room.  

"Ooooohhhhhh Fireworks!  Do it again! Do it again!"  Nighty cheered.

"You!"  Ichigo sneered, "go away, I don't want to talk to you."

"Do it again! More Fireworks!  More Fireworks!"  Nighty yelled as she started jumping up and down.

"Ah, no Nighty, you'll hurt your arm.  Don't jump!"  Ichigo scolded.

Nighty plopped herself down on the floor and started to pout.  "But I want Fireworks!"

"What happened to Nighty's arm?"  Roshi asked as he walked closer.

"Nothing you need to worry about, she scared me by grabbing my hair and I jumped and she didn't let go, so she dislocated her shoulder."  Ichigo said while glaring at Roshi as if she was daring him to make an issue of it.

"Ok, well, um, we should find my uncle PJ and get Nighty back to him.  By now the meeting is over and he is probably worried about her."

"Niiighhhhttttyyyy!  Nighty are you down here?"  PJ could be heard yelling from down the hall.

"Daddy!"  Nighty chirped before jumping up and running out the door.

PJ walked up and scooped Nighty into his arms.  "Nighty, Don't run off like that!  I was worried."  He said as he held her at arms length.

"Owwie Daddy my arm."  Nighty cried while squirming in his grasp.

PJ quickly turned her so she was sitting on his right arm with her knees pressed into his chest for balance.  "What happened to your arm?"  He said as he looked around.

"This is your obi.  What did you do to Nighty's arm?"  PJ inquired as he glared at Ichigo.

"What, killing defenseless people on the moon isn't good enough for you, now you have to hurt little girls too?"  Gotan sneered from the side.  "Haven't you caused enough damage already?"

"Did she hurt you?"  PJ asked Nighty while pointing at a frowning Ichigo.

"Ah Huh, I wantad a pony wride and then she made my arm hurt really bad and...

"You attacked a defenseless little girl?!"  Gotan yelled cutting Nighty off.

"I did no such thing!  How dare you accuse me of..."

"Are you calling my little Nighty a liar..."

"... then she made me..."

"Why don't you go back were you came from we don't want you here!"

"...if she said you hurt her then you hurt her and by Dende..."

"...bite her icky hair and I got little choky hairs all ovfer in my mouth..."

"...I didn't attack her she grabbed my hair and..."

"...you won't get anywhere near my little girl again!

"You've been nothing but trouble since you got here you little witch!  You may have fooled Roshi but..."

"FINE!!!  I'VE HAD IT!"  Ichigo yelled silencing the lot of them.  "I'm going to go get my stuff and take Banana's ship and I am getting the he..ck off this retched planet.  And to think I actually thought I could learn something from you ingrates!"

"About time you...HuuGHHH" Gotan started but didn't finish as Ichigo stormed past him and sucker punched him in the stomach to shut him up.

"WHAAAAAHHHH!!! PONY COME BAAACK!!! I WANT MORE FIREWORKS!!!"  Nighty cried as she struggled in her father's arms trying to get down so she could follow Ichigo.

"Wonderful, just absolutely wonderful.  I have to go stop her."  Roshi said as he started down the hall.

Nighty finally slipped out of PJ's grasp and started running down the hall as well, but Roshi stopped and grabbed her.  "No Nighty.  Stay with you dad.  It's going to be ok."

Holding Nighty in place, Roshi stood up and looked at PJ.  "Nighty dislocated her shoulder by yanking on Ichigo's hair.  Ichigo has very fast reflexes and from what I was told jumped.  Nighty didn't let go.  It was an accident."

PJ looked over at Roshi.  "You're not the one who put her arm in that sling?"

Roshi face faulted.  "That's Ichigo's obi!  Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to try to get clothing off of that girl?  No! I didn't do it.  If you had listened to Nighty rather then starting to yell, Ichigo popped the joint back into place and was keeping Nighty from hurting herself more when I found them.  Now if you will excuse me I need to stop her before she impulsively throws her life away."

Roshi started down the hall, but was stopped when Gotan grabbed his ankle.  "Let her go you stupid boy.  She's only using you.  We have no part in this.  We already dealt with our Changelings.  There's no reason to put everyone at risk just for the sake of pride and a pretty girl."

Roshi stared open mouthed down at Gotan while the man tried to struggle to his feet.  "You think that is what this is about?  Pride and a pretty girl? I can't believe you would... Ok so maybe that does have a little to do with it, but if we succeed, she'll go away and my life will go back to normal and I can then take pride in doing something that I know is right.  To deny myself action when I know action is necessary is to deny who I am.  I can't live with that.  I feel sorry that you can.  I used to wonder what it took to become great.  I can't answer that Gotan, but I can tell you what it takes to be small and petty.  I don't want your life."

"The nerve, how dare you speak to your elders in such a manner?!"  Gotan yelled at Roshi's retreating form.

"Stuff if Gotan, the boy is right."  Roshi heard PJ say as he flew though the broken window Ichigo had used to get out of the building.

* * *

Ichigo wiped her eyes as she flew towards the Son Estate.  'Why am I crying?  I'm pathetic I can't even control my own emotions.  Staying here was a mistake.  I've become soft. I've forgotten who I am...  No!  No, I'm crying because there is nothing else I can do.  Father cried when mother died.  I cry now because I realize now I have failed.  These people would never have helped me and even if Roshi was being genuine, he is but one person and he couldn't even convince his own family to help.  Both he and Boxer's talked about the honorable history of his family, but they have long forgotten any honor they once had.  With the possible exception of Roshi and maybe a handful of others, they are nothing but the traitors the Vegeta family was so long ago.'

Ichigo sensed a change in the air.  'Roshi is following me, I need to move faster.  If he catches me then he will stupidly force me to stay here.  Then not only my world but this one as well will die at the hands of the Changelings.'

Ichigo thought of the night before she left home.  The night when she had stood on her balcony and overlooked the children playing in the street far below.  'I was never as free as those children, or as innocent as Nighty.  When Roshi saved my life that first day, he told me that he did it because it was the right thing to do.  My father always told me that the right thing to do was rarely the easy thing to do.'  Ichigo wiped her eyes again and once again increased her speed.  'I have a destiny.  I was born a leader.  I may have failed my own people, but I cannot let my presence here doom more innocent people.'

"Besides, I may still beat the Changelings.  Now that I know Super Saiyans do exist, there is always a chance I may be one of them."  

* * *

Roshi had to use the Kaioken to even keep up with Ichigo.  'Damn she's fast.'  He thought to himself as he slowly gained on her.  'I cannot let closed minded people like Uncle Gotan place a taint on us all.  If she leaves now I will never be able to forgive myself.'

Roshi shook his head.  'She knows she is throwing her life away by fleeing now.  Chances are it won't save us the wrath of the Changelings anyway.  They will know she had allies here and they will come looking.  Gotan was wrong.  This isn't about pride.  This is about life itself.  This is about who we are and what we are and what is right and what is wrong.'

'This is a challenge that we dare not shy away from because this is something that defines us.  To deny it is to deny ourselves.  To do that is unthinkable.  I must not fail, so I cannot fail.'

* * *

Roshi landed and was about to run into Pan's house as Ichigo was still inside when a shiny metallic blue Jetcopter swooped past and started to land on the landing pad.

Roshi started waving his arms and yelling at the landing Copter.  "No!  No, No way!  This is private property you can't be here without permission.  Leave now or there isn't a lawyer on the planet that will keep your rear out of jail!"

The copter continued landing.

"I said go away!  You don't want to know what I'm going to have to do to you if you land that thing!"  Roshi threatened.

The copter landed and one of the mirrored doors opened.

Kit jumped out.  "And just what are you going to do to me?  That's not a very nice way to talk to your friends."

"KIT!  What the heck are you doing here?  This is a very bad time and I..."

"I brought Mariah, she needs to talk to you."

"You did WHAT?!"  Roshi yelled as he realized he had made a huge mistake.  He had been so unnerved by the sight of the copter that he hadn't even tried to determine who was in it.  'Stupid Roshi, very, very stupid'

Roshi had never seen Kit angry before.  At least not really angry.  While she didn't have claws, her fingernails were still quite sharp.  Her tail bristled, her ears flat, and her fur standing on end, she marched over to Roshi grabbed his left ear and twisted.  "You may be a million time stronger then me but so help me if you don't calm down and listen to me right now, I will make you suffer.  She literally snarled into his face as she dragged him away from the copter and towards the direction in which he had approached.

"Um, Kit this is really not a..."

"I said shut up and listen to me!"

Roshi shut up.  While Kit couldn't really physically hurt him, she scared the hell out of him like this.

Kit marched Roshi over to the front door of Pan's house and then let go of his ear.  "Your time ran out.  Mariah came over and watched the news conference with me this morning.  She saw your dad break down that wall and then heard him tell the world that you were stronger then he is.  She THEN saw them replay shots of various family members arriving to the meeting.  You are all famous you know.  Well walking in the front door of the old dome may have been better for you then flying in the back, but since you walked into a PRIVATE FAMILY ONLY meeting beside THIS GIRL,"  Kit said holding up another tabloid, "And since you have not spoken to Mariah at any length since your date a week ago.  She is not taking it well."

Roshi was looking at the tabloid.

**Update:  Son Boy Dines in Luxury with Mystery Girl!!**

The tabloid then showed several pictures of Ichigo and him walking out of ChiChi's and had an interview with one of the employee's who informed them that Roshi had dined with the girl for over an hour in the private dining room.

"Kit, it's a tabloid.  This isn't news.  She's a Saiyan, where else was I supposed to take her to eat?"

"Roshi you don't get it.  Mariah has never even set foot in Chichi's.  Heck that private dining room you two ate in costs more money to rent for an hour then my parents make in a WEEK!  AND my dad is the head of a research division at Capsule Corp!

"Really?  I didn't know that.  I just paid for it and...  I'm an idiot."

"You think?"  Kit rolled her eyes and then waved to the Copter.  

Mariah slowly got out of the copter and started to walk towards them.  It was easy to tell that she had been crying. 

"Mariah, Roshi would like to tell you how big of an idiot he is and then would like to apologize profusely and worship the ground you walk on."

Roshi glared at Kit.  "You know I don't need you to tell her what I am going to say, and I don't need you telling me what to say either.  In fact, I think it might be best if you go stand over by the copter for a bit cause this is a private conversation between me and Mariah.  Right Mariah?"

"No.  I want her to stay."  Mariah said as she stood next to Kit like Kit was a safety screen of some sort.  "You took her to Chichi's Roshi.  You you..."

"Ok, well um, look, I am really sorry.  I wasn't thinking and I've made some mistakes and I really would tell you the whole story but I really don't have the time and get away from that door!"  Roshi yelled as he realized Ichigo was coming down the stairs.

"What?"  Mariah said before the door was flung open and Ichigo marched out of the house in her full Royal Armor.  

Roshi looked from Mariah who had fallen down in shock to Ichigo who was looking over the threesome as if trying to determine what they were there for.  "Ichigo don't do this.  Don't go.  It isn't worth it."

Mariah gasped.

Ichigo glared at Roshi.  For a moment the only sound was of her cape snapping in the breeze.  "Not worth it?  Not worth it?  How dare you tell me that.  You don't have the right.  You've never had to make a hard choice in your life.  If you really believe that what I am doing is in vain then I really have misjudged you.  Don't you dare tell me what is or is not worth it!"   Ichigo yelled as she drove a hooking Ki punch right into Roshi's left cheek.

BAMMMM!!!!   Roshi was thrown several hundred meters and ended up in a tree.

"Don't even think about stopping me."  Ichigo yelled as a brilliant blue aura built up around her.

"ROSHI!"  Mariah yelled as she got up and started to run towards Roshi.

Ichigo looked at Mariah who was sobbing as she helped Roshi stand back up to Kit who was just looking at the scene with her mouth hanging open in a state of shock.

"You two care about him don't you?"  She asked.  "Don't bother wasting your time with him.  He is a traitor born of traitors.  In the end he will only betray you and bring you pain."

With that Ichigo leapt into the air and flew away.  The aura blast and sonic boom that followed knocked both Kit and Mariah down.

Roshi dove and managed to catch Mariah before she hit the ground.

He looked over at her and saw the fear in her deep brown eyes.  "WhoOo... Wha-at was that?  How can she fly?" Mariah asked as she hugged herself to Roshi.

"Oh Mariah, I'm so sorry I should have told you this stuff years ago, and I would right now but I can't because If I don't stop her she's going to go kill herself and I can't let her do that."

"Roshi, you didn't answer her question and what the heck is going on here anyway?  None of this seems to go at all with what you told me last night."  Kit said as she brushed herself off.

Roshi extricated himself from Mariah and helped her to stand up.  "That was Princess Ichigo Kudamono.  She is from the planet Saiya and is here because she needed help.  That is why she was at the family meeting today and that is why she is so angry right now.  My family did not show itself to be what she had expected."

"You didn't tell me she was a Princess yesterday!"  Kit yelled.

"She was going to go home eventually anyway I didn't think it was necessary!"

"So she's an alien like Kit?"  Mariah asked innocently.

"Um yeah, she is a Saiyan which means um yeah she is an alien like Kit"  Roshi said quickly.

"Ah Hum"  Kit cleared her throat.  "And?"

"And If I don't go now I won't be able to catch her and stop her and I promise I will tell you everything later."

"But why Roshi?  Why is she going to kill herself?  She seemed happy yesterday in the mall before Rock started making an ass of himself."  Mariah said as she grabbed his arm.  "And what did she mean by you were a traitor?"

"Yeah, and just why would a Saiyan need to come here for help.  What do Saiyans have to fear?  I thought they were supposed to be really strong or something.  Like you father you know."  Kit asked while managing to get a jab in.

Roshi glared at Kit, 'I tried to be reasonable.  Well, My life as I knew it is over anyway, might as well tell them the whole story.'  Changelings.  She came her because changelings attacked her planet.  Now one of them is coming here.  She is leaving because she thinks if she throws her life away it will leave us alone.  While she may be right, I can't let her die just to buy me peace."

If it were possible Kit would have gone white.  "A Changeling?  A Changeling is coming here?  Roshi, um... It takes a Super Saiyan to beat a Changeling right?"

"Yeah, and a few other things, but right now we are fresh out of them."

"What about Super Saiyans?  You aren't..."

"No, but I am the best chance we have."

"What's a Super Saiyan?"  Mariah suddenly inquired.

"Some day I might show you, suffice to say that it is a very powerful Saiyan."

"But how are you the best chance to...  You're a Saiyan?" Mariah gasped as she put two and two together.  "But I thought that she was a Saiyan and an alien and..."

"Yes, yes, yes,  You are right.  Long ago the Saiyan race split.  I am a descendant of the king from one side, Ichigo is a descendent from the other side.  My ancestors were aliens."

"You're an Alien?"

"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, and I am sorry but I have to go.  I promise I will tell you two everything.  But I have to go now or I won't be able to catch her."  Roshi said as he slowly hovered into the air.  Once he was far enough away that his backwash wouldn't hurt them, he powered up to Kaioken times four and took off after Ichigo.

"Well Kit, you were right.  Fate bit.  I just hope it bit off more then it can chew.  Cause if it didn't, it just ate us all."

* * *

"Roshi can fly?  How can he fly?  Mariah asked as she watched Roshi float away from them.   Suddenly the sky glowed red and Roshi streaked away like a big red comet.

Then, down on the ground Mariah felt a strange sensation pass over her.  It was comforting.  It also left a tingle in her toes and almost took her breath away.  However, even as it did that, it reminded her of Roshi when he was near.  "Kit, did you feel that?  What was that?"

Click!  Kit's jaw snapped shut.  "ah, well that was um, well For lack of a better thing to call it, that was Roshi's power.

"Kit, what is a Changeling, you seem afraid of it.  I mean, if Roshi can fly and he is so strong like Mr. Satan, the Changeling shouldn't be any big deal right?"

Kit slowly shook her head.  "No Mariah.  What Cell was to the Earth, a Changeling is to the Rest of the Universe.  They are evil and powerful and even though you felt Roshi's strength as he flew away he isn't strong enough to beat one."

"Kit, you saw it didn't you.  Roshi was afraid.  I've never seen Roshi afraid of anything before."  Mariah said almost in a whisper.

Kit looked at Mariah and shook her head.  Looking down, she whispered "I have."

"Kit, I'm scared."

Kit reached out and hugged her best friend.  "I am too Mariah.  I am too."  Kit said as she looked to the sky where Roshi had gone.  'I'm sorry Roshi.  I really screwed up this time.  You were right to keep some things from us and now I've gone and complicated everything for you.  If a changeling is coming to Earth you don't need to be worried about loosing your friends.  I just pray you let me apologize.'

"Kit, do you think Roshi will be back in time for our date tonight?"

* * *

Well, there you go.  Sorry this took so blasted long, I had some computer problems, and some other stuff came up.

Now for my advertising section.  I have not done this for a while and I need to.

First  Jacob has some interesting AU fics.  You should all go read them and review.  

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Secondly, OmegaNY showed me a really good 17 fic it is called Butterfly Dreams.  It only has 16 reviews and it deserves a lot more.  If some of you people don't review it, you may wait a Loooong time for my next chapter.  I normally would not make such petty threats, but this fic really does deserve more reviews.

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Thank you, for reading and please review.

The Smooster


	33. Beyond the Point of No Return

Chapter 33

Beyond the Point of No Return

June 20th, 2:00 P.M.

Ichigo wiped the tears from her eyes as she landed outside Pan's house.  She absentmindedly looked over her shoulder as she opened the front door and looked to the sky where she could feel Roshi approaching rapidly.  'Roshi has gained on me.  I need to hurry, I cannot allow him to stop me from doing this.'

Stepping inside, her nose was assaulted by the still fresh scent of varnish.  The wood floor had been repaired and any sign of the damage she had done was gone.  'I wonder how long it will be before any record of my presence here is totally wiped clear?'  She questioned herself as she walked up the stairs.

Roshi had been ordered to fix the hardwood floor himself.  He had found a way to sneak some construction droids in and program them to fix the floor.  Since his mother didn't know how the floor had been fixed, only that it had been fixed, he had gotten away with it.

The scent of the varnish burned her nose as the knowledge that Roshi hadn't really taken responsibility and carried out the stipulations of his punishment burned her sense of honor.

'Roshi's family has become so good at covering for themselves that it has become second nature to them.  They rule this world with the invisible hand that has in large become invisible to themselves.  Roshi is naive.  He believes that just because he pictures good in any situation, that there is good to be found in any situation.  The world is not all happy endings and he cannot see this.'

Ichigo grimaced.  'His family is much the same way.  They cannot accept the world as being anything but a utopia and therefore they cover up or hide the truth from not only the people, but themselves.'

'Roshi has accepted more responsibility than the rest, but without their support his actions are futile.  I have killed far too many innocent people I cannot allow more to die because of my presence here and because of their own inability to exit their safe little cocoons.'

 Ichigo quickly stepped out of her gi as she sensed Roshi and two other people approaching the house.  'They will be here within a minute.' She thought to herself as she quickly grabbed her armor, and stuffed her braid through it so as to not get it caught in the armor.  She then pulled her breast plate on.  After stretching a bit to loosen the fit, she grabbed her cape.  'I've gained some muscle mass these past few weeks, my armor no longer fits as well as it used to.'  She realized as she clipped the cape on.

Ichigo walked up to the three-panel mirror and looked at herself.  "I am Ichigo Kudamono.  I have forgotten myself and hidden from my destiny for far too long here.  It is about time I remembered.  It is my duty to return home."

Ichigo turned around to walk out the door.  She was almost out of the room when her billowing cape caught a stack of Pan's Diaries and knocked them off the dresser where Ichigo had put them.

Ichigo turned around and knelt by the books.  "I am sorry I didn't get to finish reading your diaries, Son Pan.  Like many things on this world I miss-judged you greatly.  If only your descendants had seen or at least believed in the words you have written, then perhaps things would not have to end this way."  She said as she picked the diaries up and moved to reshelf them.

As she did, a single page fell out of one of them.  It slowly fluttered to the floor and slid under the bed.

Ichigo had half a mind to just leave it there, but she crawled over and reached under the bed to retrieve the paper.  It was yellowed and brittle with age but there was clearly readable handwriting covering it.  Ichigo stood and looked at the handwriting which was far different then Pan's.

_April 19, 894_

_To all who may one day read this,_

_I am not Son Pan.  Son Pan was my Grandmother.  I am Bulma Son-Briefs, commonly known as Bulma Jr.  The reason I am putting this in the end of the last of my grandmother's diaries is complicated._

_I loved my grandmother.  She was an anchor and a shield and a connection to a past long gone.  I remember in my youth so many years ago how she would tell my brother and I such great tales of the deeds of Goku, and Vegeta, and the rest of the Z-Senshi.  I sadly, I have to admit that for many of those years, I thought of her stories as just that; tales told by a loving grandmother to her grandkids._

_Grandma died two years ago today.  Oh Dende, how I miss her.  Right now I am sitting at her desk in her room.  This was her sanctuary, her home for most of my life.  For most of my life she was my crazy old grandmother.  For most of my life she was a woman who had many a kind word, but few words to be taken seriously.  Now as I sit in this room and scrape the dust from the shelves I realize just how wrong I was._

_Perhaps age has something to do with my feelings.  I am nearing fifty now.  I have grandchildren of my own.  Perhaps, but I doubt it._

_I think that now that she is gone, I finally realize what it is I and my siblings and cousins have lost.  Goku was a hero, Mr. Satan was a man who is even today revered for his deeds, faulty as they may have been, but Grandma Pan was a Dreamer, a Believer, and most important, she was one who Remembered._

_Ten years ago, she came to me with a question.  She wanted to know if there would be a way to make a digital memory bank to save all of the journals and diaries that she had found while restoring this house.  I didn't think much of her idea at the time, but I worked on it some.  I didn't realize the value of what she sought to do.  I had never read my Great-Grandfather's journals.  While Grandma had given me many diaries as gifts, I seldom even tried to keep one._

_Now I wish I had.  Grandma wrote as if she were writing to a love.  First to Trunks as she had a childhood crush on him, then to her Grandfather Goku, and finally to My Grandfather Ubuu.  The last letter in her diary did not change that pattern.  It was however written to more then just one person.  I have taken her words to heart.  Later today I will gather my brother and my cousins and all of our children and give them my latest project.  Pan's dream; The dream of Memory._

_May we never forget the price other's have paid to give us the life we now live.  May we never forget the lost loved ones.  May we never forget ourselves._

_Bulma Son-Briefs_

Ichigo read the entry again.  'But I am afraid they have forgotten.  Whoever you were, Bulma, they have forgotten.'

Ichigo couldn't help it, she opened the last page to read the last entry Pan ever wrote.

April 18, 892 

_To my children; To the ones I will leave behind._

To a casual observer it may seem odd that I am dedicating this entry which I feel will be my last to my children.  My children died long ago now.

_While Gohan Jr. was my child, he was not my only child.  All of you are my children.  I claim you all.  I have seen the best in you, and I have seen the worst in you.  I wish I could share with you now all my insights, but I fear I have not the time.  I can share with you what I have written in these diaries however.  They are my heart and my soul poured out on the pages.  They are my hopes and my dreams.  They are yours to learn from.  They are yours to remember.  Most of us have but one life to live.  In that life we can achieve only that which we allow ourselves to achieve.  I was given far more then most on my path in life.  My Mother and Father loved each other greatly.  My Grandfather was a hero, and my other Grandfather would do anything for me.  My family and my friends were great people.  In greatness they found all that they could ever need and shared it with the world.  My Grandfather Goku once told me that anything is possible if my heart is in it.  He was right.  Therefore, my heart goes out to you all now._

_I do not see myself as having that greatness.  I am nothing compared to my father or my grandfather.  All I can do is remember.  I remember._

_This is my hope and dream for you all.  Remember who I was, but more importantly remember who you are.  Remember your sisters and your brothers.  Remember your friends and your enemies.  Remember the hard times as well as the good. Never forget that while you may not know your place in this world, someone out there cares, or you wouldn't be where you are.  Never forget the path your life takes.  For each life is a gift.  And each choice you make changes not only your life, but all lives you may touch.  Everyone counts.  Every action counts, every frown, every smile, every injury, every hug, every tear, every kiss.    _

_Remember that I love you._

_Son Pan_

Ichigo slowly closed the diary.  Several tears splattered on the cover as she looked down and wiped her eyes.  'Damn it!'  She screamed to herself.  'Just when I thought I had things somewhat figured out I have to think of new possibilities.'

After putting the diary back, Ichigo glanced around the room at all the pictures of Pan.  She was never alone in any of them.  Friends or family surrounded her regardless of age or location.  She was never alone.

One of the larger pictures showed a twenty something year old Pan hugging her father on her wedding day.  While Ichigo didn't recognize the picture for what it was she could see the joy and love there.

"The last thing I said to my father was that I loved him and that I would be back.  He sent me away to protect me, but also in hope for both me and our people.  I failed to find the Super Saiyans, but I found their descendants.  I found people who have more then I ever dreamed of.  I would have never dreamed of the power Roshi has.  I could never have thought that a family that had so much, could forget so much as well.  I have to return home.  I have no choice in that matter."

Ichigo picked up another picture that had Trunks, Gohan, Goten, Ubuu, Pan, Marron, and Bra all laughing about something.  The Saiyan men were all Super Saiyans and the entire group was covered in food as though they had just had a food fight.  "However, even though, I disrespect Roshi's family for turning their backs on what they had, can I turn my back on my father's hopes as easily?  Every moment I am here, my friends suffer.  Many of them are probably dead by now.  From what Roshi and his cousins have told me I don't stand a chance against even one Changeling.  I have to go home, but to do so now is to give up on all hope."

Ichigo looked up into the mirror and saw the redness of her eyes.  "This is not the time for tears.  I cannot lose hope just because things seem to be against me.  Roshi's family may have forgotten their past, but he and his cousins, and his father seem to remember.  They may not have the support of their entire family, but then as my father reminded me many times, the right thing to do is seldom the easy thing to do.  That is the reason so few are born to lead.  

I cannot allow my presence here on this world to lead the Changelings to it.  Too many innocent people have died already because of me.  Likewise, I cannot abandon my own people when there is a chance at saving them by working with those I have found here."

Ichigo closed her eyes and cleared her thoughts.  Breathing deeply she came to a peace of mind, which she would have been unable to achieve had she never came to Earth.

"I will let Roshi choose for me.  It is not my place to choose the fate of this world.  If I stay, everyone here may die.  If I leave, I might be choosing death for my people.  Pan's Grandfather was right, if our hearts are in it, we cannot fail.  I have no choice.  Roshi does.  I do not know why he has chosen to help me so far, I fear I will never understand him." She sucked on her lip for a moment.  "But if he does not have a good reason for helping, then in the end his help will mean doom for him and this world.  I cannot let that happen."  She said as she put down the last picture.  Glancing around the room one last time she convinced herself that she had made the right choice.

"Perhaps his belief in the impossible will save us all."  Ichigo said to herself as she walked down the stairs of the house.

"Get away from that door!"  Ichigo heard Roshi yell as she approached the door.

Ichigo closed her eyes for a moment and sensed the ki of the three people standing on the other side of the door.  'Only Roshi is a threat.  He is aggravated and not keeping his ki down as well.  The other two... are not familiar to me.  They might be two of Roshi's cousins, but they don't seem to have the same... feel as Roshi or his cousins do.'

"What?"  A female voice asked, as Ichigo threw open the door and marched out.

The look on Roshi's face was priceless.  He quickly glanced from the brown haired girl at Ichigo's feet to Ichigo's eyes and back to the girl again.

'She's the girl who waved at Roshi yesterday before that bastard tried to grope me... and that one over there is the furry fox like girl that kept glaring at me yesterday while the officers were questioning Roshi and I.  Neither one has the power of new born child.  Yet they must be friends of Roshi the way the furred one is glaring at both him and me, and the way he keeps looking to the one at my feet.'  Ichigo thought as she assessed the situation.

"Ichigo don't do this.  Don't go.  It isn't worth it."  Roshi pleaded as he took a step in her direction.

The girl at Ichigo's feet gasped sounding hurt.

Ichigo forced herself to glare into Roshi's eyes.  'I need to know if he has the heart to fight the Changelings.  I need to test him.  If he can answer for himself and stop me I will not go, otherwise my duty is clear.'  Ichigo thought as she clenched her fist and felt her knuckles pop.  "Not worth it?  Not worth it?  How dare you tell me that.  You don't have the right.  You've never had to make a hard choice in your life.  If you really believe that what I am doing is in vain then I really have misjudged you.  Don't you dare tell me what is or is not worth it!"   Ichigo yelled as she drove a hooking Ki punch right into Roshi's left cheek.

BAMMMM!!!!   Roshi was thrown several hundred meters and ended up in a tree.

"ROSHI!"  Mariah yelled as she got up and started to run towards Roshi.

Ichigo let the girl run past her.  'She does not know what or who she is dealing with.  I can sense the fear coming from her.  This is new to her which means she doesn't know how powerful Roshi actually is.  That attack was all flash, but it didn't even phase him.'  Ichigo focused her mind and built up an impressive blue aura.  "Don't even think about stopping me."  

Ichigo looked at Mariah who was sobbing as she helped Roshi stand back up to Kit who was just looking at the scene with her mouth hanging open in a state of shock.

'He does not trust them so they do not know who he really is.  Even if he is only a hybrid, the girl sobbing at his side would never be worthy of a warrior like Roshi.  In the end she would only stifle him.'

"You two care about him don't you?"  She demanded in a haughty tone.  "Don't bother wasting your time with him.  He is a traitor born of traitors.  In the end he will only betray you and bring you pain."

She caught the glare of anger from Roshi as she leapt into the air and flew away.  The aura blast and sonic boom that followed knocked both of the girls down, but Ichigo didn't care.  'Let them be afraid and let Roshi be angry.  Now, more than ever, I am certain that I need to leave.  Roshi doesn't have the heart to fight, and this world is not ready for the destruction that the Changelings would bring.'

* * *

'I'm going to kill her.'  Roshi thought to himself as he flew after Ichigo.  'I am going to beat that haughty look right off of her stupid face and then I am going to kill her.'

Roshi popped several knuckles as he balled his fists.  'She is impossible to work with.  If I didn't have my conscience to deal with I think I would just let the bitch go.  I could go back to Mariah and explain everything to her.  I could make things right again.'

Roshi thought about the look Mariah had in her eyes as he had flown away.  She had the look of fear.  But more then that, pain, hurt, worry, and betrayal were also present.  'I've hurt Mariah without ever intending to do so.  I have already betrayed her once by not telling her about myself.  Am I betraying her again by not being there for her?'

'No!  I cannot worry about hurt feelings.  Lives are at stake here.  How could I live with myself if I turned my back on what I know is right for the easy route?  If Mariah cannot accept that, then I don't know if she is really the right girl for me.'

Roshi's mind once again wondered to Mariah's hurtful look and Kit's fear.  'Kit was terrified.  But then, she has not spent her entire life living on the Earth.  Who knows what she may have heard or seen while living in space.  She knows that I am not strong enough to beat a Changeling right now.'

"What is one life worth?"  Roshi said to himself.  'That is what I asked my relatives today.  But I cannot even answer it myself.  I cannot just let Ichigo kill herself, but... can I risk my friends and family if I fail?'

"Fate bit real hard, Kit."  Roshi spoke aloud even though Kit was almost half a planet away by the time he said the words.  "Regardless of the choice I make now, people will die.  The Changelings are coming.  Whether Ichigo is here or goes away, the Changelings are coming.  There is no choice.  I cannot let her go, and I cannot fail when the Changelings come.  There is no other choice and Fate can be damned if it thinks there is."

* * *

Ichigo had thought that Roshi wasn't going to follow her.  For several minutes she flew on without anyone following her.  Then she felt Roshi's power spike and he started chasing her.

'So, he still thinks he can stop me?'  Ichigo sadly shook her head.  'He has chosen a course of action and is now stubbornly staying with it... I cannot let him stop me.' Ichigo thought as she shot over the wreckage of her ship.

Upon seeing the wreckage of her ship she reached up to her collar and absentmindedly felt the notch in her armor where her mother's pendant would clip into place.  Her mind played over the words she had read in Pan's Diary.  "I can't leave without my mother's pendant."  She said to herself as she pulled an immelman and turned around to fly back to the wreckage.

'It has to be here someplace, the ship blew up, but it didn't vaporize the living quarters area of the ship, so my personal stuff shouldn't be damaged.' Ichigo thought to herself as she poked around in the wreckage.

She could sense Roshi approaching so she put down a torn section of bulkhead she had picked up and turned to face him.  "Go away, I know what I am doing is right, you can't stop me."

"I don't have to.  You know that leaving is wrong, Ichigo.  And if you want to claim that it is right you are only lying to yourself."

Ichigo turned on him and glared.  "Lying to myself?  Lying to myself?!  You have got to be joking.  If anyone has been lying, it is you.  You don't have any idea what you are up against.  Your family didn't tell the truth about what I did on Monday because they fear a backlash from the people.  What are you going to tell them when the Changelings show up?  What about your friends?  It's obvious that they don't know anything about you.  Are you going to just keep lying or will the truth catch you some day?"  She yelled into his face.

Roshi glared back at her and literally growled as he spoke.  "There is a difference between protecting people from things they don't understand and hiding from your problems out of fear.  Is that what you want to do now?  Just run away?  That doesn't seem very Saiyan of you.  To just run away and give up I mean.  Since when did Saiyans decided to go quietly into the night?"  He spat at her.

"You think I'm leaving because I'm afraid?!  I'm not afraid of anything!  No, I'm leaving because I accept the truth.  My presence here has caused this world to be in danger.  If I go away there is nothing that says I won't be able to beat the Changelings.  I have to try.  I have to believe that I can because otherwise I would be just letting the Changelings destroy not only MY world but your world too.  I'm not cowering in fear like your friends were just a little bit ago, I am making the only choice I can because unlike you I realize that there are more lives than just mine to think about!"

"Oh that is it, Bitch!  You've gone to far this time!"  Roshi yelled at her as he took two steps in her direction.

'Whoa hit a nerve. I never expected him to get so mad.' Ichigo thought to herself as she jumped back away from him.  She had to admit that she was a bit frightened of him at the moment.  The look in his eyes was positively murderous.

"You have no right bringing up my friends.  I can forgive you for the things you have done earlier because you did not know any better, but the way you acted around my friends is unforgivable!  You insulted them and me and I cannot forgive you for that.  And the fact that you try to claim a moral argument after you have forced me to choose between them and you makes me sick.  What you did today hurt my friends and the fact that I was forced to follow you hurt them even worse.  If you ever force me to choose between them and you again you will never forget it."  Roshi threatened.

"Get over yourself!  Do you think I don't have friends who are dieing back home while I argue with a self-dilusional egomaniac?  Don't you dare complain about making choices to me!  Do you think I would be here if I had a choice?  I was sent away by my father and it was MY DUTY to leave home.  It was my DUTY to abandon my friends to die in the hopes that I could find the Super Saiyans.  Well, look around you Roshi, the world isn't a Utopia.  People get hurt and they die.  The Changelings have no doubt killed just about everyone I have ever known by now.  And you dare to blame me for forcing you to choose to follow me!?!  Why did you follow me?  Why, Roshi?"  She yelled as she jabbed him in the chest with her index finger.  "Why do you want me to stay?  You get angry over having to leave your friends who you are not even honest enough with to let into your life, but expect me to stay when I know that I can't.  WHY?  For all we know I am the last of my people alive.  If you can't even stand leaving your friends because you want me to stay do you really want me to stay?  Are you willing to let your friends die just because you kept me here?  Well, are you?  Are you actually willing to make the hard choices?  Is keeping me here worth dieing for?  Is it worth your friends' possible death?"  Ichigo asked as she looked deep into Roshi's eyes.

Roshi looked away and then looked down at his feet.

Ichigo walked up and grabbed him by the shoulders.  "Roshi, look into my eyes and tell me.  Am I worth the possibility of your world's death?"

"No, because..."

"I don't care.  I don't want you to explain.  You were honest and that is more then you have been with a lot of people."  Ichigo said as she cut him off.

"But you don't..."

"Roshi, please, you don't need to explain.  You were kind to me when I only expected hatred.  For that, I will always remember you.  Please, look through the wreckage of my ship.  There should be things with which you can remember me in it."  She said looking directly into his eyes.

"But..."  Roshi started as Ichigo brought her knee up.  The look in Roshi's eyes was that of man who was looking death in the eyes and watching it come.  He jumped back.  He jumped back fast enough to catch her knee in his hands and stop it.  But not fast enough to avoid her booted foot, which she snap kicked right into his groin.

Roshi doubled forward and Ichigo smacked him in the top the head.  He slumped unceremoniously to the ground unconscious.

Ichigo felt tears starting to well in her eyes, but she forced them away.  "I am sorry I had to do that Roshi, but it was the only way I could keep you from following me.  Farewell and Good Bye."

* * *

Ichigo flew slowly towards Banana's ship.  She was surprised to admit it but she liked the Earth.  It was a pleasant world that reminded quite a lot of Saiya.  The gravity was not so much, and the sky's were bluer, but overall it was a clean world.  It felt safe.  It felt like home should feel.

'I have no choice. I have no choice. I have no choice. I have no choice. I have no choice. I have no choice.  I am not running away, I am saving people.  I am not running away to die.  I am not giving up.  I have no choice.  I am not running away.  I am not giving up.'  She repeated over and over again in her mind as a mantra against her thoughts.

When she got to the ship, she noticed that the hatch had been left open, but she did not think about it.  Rushing to the bridge she planned to get the ship off the ground before her will to leave collapsed.  "I have my duty."  She reminded herself once again.

As she ran into the bridge, she realized that she was not alone.  Someone was sitting in the command chair with his or her back turned.  Ichigo stopped so fast, that she almost fell over.

"This is my ship please leave now or you are going to be going on a very long trip."  She demanded as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the back of the chair.

"Oh no, I don't think so."  A male voice said as the chair slowly turned to face her.

'What the heck is he doing here?  How did he get here without me sensing him?'  Ichigo realized in shock that she still couldn't really sense him.  Only the sounds of his breathing and the slight smell of his sweat had alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone in the ship.  Ichigo's mouth dropped open.  "You... You're Roshi's father."  She said in shock.

Son Goshu stood up and walked around the small bridge of the ship.  "Yes, I am."  He said looking directly into her eyes in a way that seemed to pierce her very soul.

'This man is dangerous.'  Ichigo shivered.  "What are you doing here?  And don't tell me you came to stop me.  Roshi doesn't even believe in my cause anymore.  You don't even know me."

"Oh no, I am not here to stop you.  I saw what happened to Roshi when he did that."  Goshu said still looking directly into her eyes.

'That is so unnerving.  I wish he would stop looking at me.'  Ichigo tried to glare back at him.  "What so now you are here to what?  Get revenge?  Or to make me feel bad?  If you are not here to stop me, why are you here?"

Goshu grabbed a circular device about the size of a small plate out of a pocket in his gi.  "I can't force you to do anything.  I came here to ask you to watch this.  I also came to ask you to watch it and then make a choice."

"What choice?"  Ichigo said peering at him through half closed eyes.

"Whether or not you want to trust Roshi and stay, or whether you will get into this seat here and leave today."  He said simply while never loosing eye contact.  "Roshi would have with good intentions tried to keep you here.  I realize that such an attempt would only be futile.  You need to make up your own mind and do so willingly."

"I've already made my choice.  Roshi doesn't know what he is getting this planet involved with.  He doesn't have the heart to fight.  If I stay it will only mean his and probably everyone else on this world's death."  Ichigo said back.

"Watch this and see if you still believe that.  I can't tell you whether you are right or wrong, but I can tell you that you need to choose wisely.  The choice you make in the next few minutes will no doubt be the most important choice you have ever made and it will change the entire rest of your life."

"I already made up my mind.  This isn't going to change anything."  Ichigo repeated stubbornly.

Goshu finally blinked.  "Just watch it.  Roshi for whatever reason trusts you.  Because of that trust he believes.  It is the least you can do."  Goshu handed her the device and walked away. 

Ichigo looked at it and then carelessly tossed it into a corner.  "Ship prep the engines for start.  I want to be off this rock as soon as possible."  She said as she sat down in the command chair.

"Reactor preheat in progress.  Reactor start up ETA 8 minutes."  The computer responded neutrally.

"If I don't leave the will all die.  I can't let that happen."  Ichigo said to herself.

"Unknown command phrase.  Please restate."  The ship demanded thinking she had spoken to it.

Ichigo closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair.  "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking about the planet."

"This planet is unknown.  No known registry or data."  The computer droned.

"It's named Earth!"  Ichigo snapped at the machine.

"New log, Planet Earth, searching for power-levels"  The computer reported as it started it's routine procedures concerning new worlds.

"Stop.  Power-levels are not necessary.  Delete the log.  I'm never coming back here anyway."  Ichigo blinked away a tear.

'The choice you make in the next few minutes will no doubt be the most important choice you have ever made and it will change the entire rest of your life.'  Ichigo rethought over the words Roshi's father had just left her.  Thinking about him reminded her of her own father and words he had shared time and time again.

"Ichigo, you are not a simple warrior, you are a leader. A warrior cannot be allowed to think of the cost of their actions. A leader Must Not forget the cost of their actions. It is one thing to be prepared to kill. But it is a totally different thing to be prepared to ask or demand thousands of people to die for you. A warrior is lead by their pride. A leader blinded by pride is not fit to lead. Remember, the right thing to do may not be easy, but that does not make it any less right."  Her father had paused and looked at her with a kind smile.  

"There will come a day when you are forced to choose.  There may be several choices but only one of them will be right.  In that moment, in that time, you will decide whether your destiny is to be one of memory, or one which is forgotten.  Never force a choice based on pride or arrogance.  Choose based on what you know in your heart and soul.  I know you will choose the right thing.  It is in your blood."  

"Fusion Reactors online."  The computer reported drawing her out of her memories.  "Lift off in ten, nine, eight..."

"Computer halt liftoff."  Ichigo said quickly as she jumped out of her chair to retrieve the device Goshu had left.

Putting it down on the floor, she activated it.  A hologram of the family meeting Ichigo had left started to play.  Ichigo watched from the point she left to when Roshi took the stage and then to when he left.  As she watched she couldn't help but feel the flush of embarrassment over how she had acted.

"He does believe.  He... He... and then his father... and...  Why didn't he just say so when he caught up to me?"  She asked herself as she shivered a bit.  'Because I didn't let him.'

"Ship, shut the engines down, I'm not going anywhere."  Ichigo said as she turned to leave the ship.  'Roshi said that he was going to go train at the Sanctuary.  I wonder where that is and how I find them.  I need to apologize to him.'  Ichigo thought for a moment before remembering just how she had left Roshi.  'If he lets me.  If he doesn't, he's going to kill me.'

* * *

Ok, sorry for the week's delay at updating. Please review.

This chapter is dedicated to JoSav because she has a fic that is at the very least as good if not better then this one.  

That said, you all need to go read it now as it is an NC-17 fic that will be removed shortly.

http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=789352

This fic is very very good.  Please read it for she deserves more reviews.

I would like to thank Mahonuts and Kitsune Maxwell for editing parts of this fic.

Please go read some of their work.

And finally it has come to my attention that some of you think that my chapters are too long.  I like the longer chapters so please review and tell my your stance.

The Smooster


	34. Unity? What Unity?

Chapter 34 The chapter with no title

Chapter 34 Unity? What Unity?

Friday June 20th 3:30pm

Roshi woke at the Sanctuary with the wrinkled old face of Dende looking down at him.

"Kami? What..." He started to say as he sat up.

"Nothing to worry about, you were just knocked out." Dende replied calmly before turning to walk away.

Roshi shuddered as he remembered the jolt of pain that had passed through him when Ichigo had kicked him. Not feeling any pain but also not thinking about the fact that Dende had just healed him, Roshi reached down and laid his hand on his crotch.

"Ewwwwww, Roshi, that's gross. I never took you for one of those sick bastards that plays with himself in public." Slip said as she walked up and dropped three overstuffed duffle bags on the tile floor of the Sanctuary.

Roshi whipped his hand away as his face lit up like a crimson bulb. "I wasn't playing with myself. I was just making sure everything was still there." Roshi finished blushing even more.

Slip gave him a really odd look and raised an eyebrow. "Still there?"

"Yeah, um well you see, Ichigo kicked me."

Tee and Boxers both of whom had been standing on the outskirts of the conversation both winced. Slip on the other hand, almost fell down laughing.

"Awwww poor boy. Let me cry for you." She said while curling her bottom lip over and pretending to pout.

"Ouch man that had to have hurt." Boxers said to Roshi before turning to Slip and glaring at her. "It isn't funny."

"Yes it is. It is almost poetic justice. Roshi is the only one here at the moment who really cares whether that bitch is alive or not, and she treats him like dirt. Oh, and since he didn't feel sorry for the fact she blew up my lab, why should I feel sorry for him. I mean, EVERYTHING is all there right?" She said while looking at Roshi much in the manner as a vulture would look at a dieing cow.

Roshi blushed and created a new shade of red. "HUH? Oh ah YES!!"

All four of them laughed for a bit. "Dude, you should really wear a cup or something. I mean the girl aims for them and all." Tee said while laughing.

Roshi scrunched up his face and shook his head. "No thank you, those things are about as comfortable as... as... well they just suck."

Boxers cocked an eyebrow and looked at Roshi oddly, "You know, If I were in your shoes I would put up with a bit of discomfort, but then we all know you are a masochist and like pain."

Slip rolled her eyes and made a few whimpering noises. "Poor Roshi." She snickered. "As if you have the right to complain about uncomfortable clothing. Do you have any idea what it feels like to wear say the wrong bra for too long?"

"Get ready boys, Slip is about to go into another one of those... Life is so hard on girls speeches." Roshi deadpanned as he started to walk away. "Oh we have to look like this and dress like this and then we have to put up with that time of the you know what, and guys only want us for our looks, or our money and woe is me woe is me."

"Stop making fun of me! Life isn't fair, you guys have it so easy!" Slip yelled before turning and stomping away.

The three boys laughed for a bit, but Slip eventually came back to where they were standing.

"By the way, where is the super bitch anyway?" Slip said when she came back. "Shouldn't she be here? I mean, isn't the entire point of all this so that you guys can train more?"

"I don't know," Roshi said as he walked over to look over the side of the Sanctuary. "I would guess that she has left by now."

"Left?" Boxers questioned.

"Well the only reason she knocked me out was because she knew I wouldn't let her go if I was conscious, so I would guess she's long gone by now." Roshi said as he relaxed and tried to sense Ichigo's presence.

"Cool." Tee said from where he was standing.

Roshi looked over at him. "Cool? Please don't tell my you just sounded happy about her attempt to castrate me and leaving for no good reason." Roshi said in a none too kind voice. "Because if you did I might just have to make you regret it."

"Sorry man, call me selfish, but I had a big date with Aiako planned and I really would like to still go out with her tonight."

"Psha, big deal, you only like her for her looks and she only likes you for you money, you're better of letting Roshi beat the snot out of you." Slip said as she shook her head and went back to where she had put down her bags.

"That isn't true! Aiako is a sweet wonderful girl and just because your miss bitter loner geek doesn't mean you need to get mad about the fact that I have a social life!" Tee yelled back at her. He then turned to the guys. "She is such a prude. Just because she swore off dating because of how her parents act doesn't make me feel sorry for her."

Roshi shook his head. "I don't really know. There are times when her dad seems more interested in how much something will cost then he is about Teddy and Slip. I can't blame her for her low opinion of the male sex. I mean, the tabloids don't help, and being voted the world's sexiest teen twice makes her less then a person to a lot of guys."

Boxers rolled his eyes and grimaced. "Roshi are you blind? Do you see what she is wearing? If she did date she would be a man-eater. She flaunts herself and LIKES being the center of attention. I think she's just jealous because she is the type of girl who wouldn't give the right kind of guy for her a chance and is too clueless to realize why she is so unhappy."

'At least they aren't talking about my social life. I don't even know if I have one right now. I wouldn't blame Mariah if she never wanted to talk to me again.' Roshi thought as he looked over at Slip who was sitting on one of her duffle bags. "Slip brings a lot of it down on herself, but she doesn't deserve all of it."

Tee was glaring daggers into Slip's back. "Yeah well that doesn't excuse what she said about Aiako."

Roshi shook his head. "No, it doesn't. But I wouldn't worry about it, things will sort themselves out," Roshi paused as he felt his father and Ichigo approaching the Sanctuary, "they always do."

--

Ichigo slowed down and fell further behind Goshu. She could feel that Roshi and his cousins were waiting at what seemed to be Goshu's destination.

'I don't want to face Roshi right now.' Ichigo thought as her sense of honor chafed her deeply. 'I had the right reasons, or at least I thought I did, when I did what I did but I don't want to face Roshi right now.'

While Ichigo was beginning to grasp just how different the people who lived on Earth were from her people, Roshi was a conundrum to her. He was a riddle to which she never quite seemed to have the right answer.

She could feel him waiting for her. This filled her with a sense of dread. Ichigo knew the feeling of dread quite well. However, the reason she was dreading getting to the Sanctuary was rather new to her. She knew that Roshi would forgive her and move on. The fact that he not only could but had and would again do that filled her with dread. It made her feel as though she owed him. Ichigo couldn't stand the thought of owing anyone for anything. Plus, she didn't really know how long he would continue to forgive and move on.

"Roshi's father said he trusts me. While that video could have been created or edited, I doubt it was. Those were Roshi's words. Why do I inspire such trust? And how long will it last?" She whispered to herself.

"It will last as long as you allow it to last. Oh, and you have not inspired trust, Roshi is just naturally trusting. But be warned, you have to return that trust or you will find that even Roshi's trust won't last forever." Goshu said from a few meters away from her startling her and eliciting a small noise from her.

"YAHH, DON'T DO THAT!" Ichigo screamed as she looked at Goshu like he was a ghost. "What are you doing listening to me anyway?"

Goshu chuckled and gave her the same dopey grin Roshi always seemed to have, "You slowed down, I just wanted to see what was wrong."

"Nothing that I can't handle myself." Ichigo retorted.

Goshu shook his head sadly. "You don't like relying on anyone but yourself do you? I think I understand now, you don't trust others easily and therefore the notion that Roshi would trust you when you know you have done nothing to deserve his trust is an enigma to you."

Ichigo shivered under Goshu's piercing stare. It held no malice, or anger, or contempt, nor did it hold compassion or benevolence, it just was. For the second time in an hour Ichigo felt like her very soul was under examination.

"What makes you think you know me so well? Just because you seemed to be in charge of your extended family and are Roshi's father doesn't mean you know me." She replied.

Goshu shook his head slowly. "I don't know you. I can infer from what I have heard and from your actions more then you could ever guess however."

"Well don't. You don't know me and I don't like how you think you can judge me so easily."

Goshu cocked an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Like you so easily judged all of us?"

Ichigo felt her face flush with anger as she glared at the man in front of her. 'How dare he mock me? I don't need to take this.' Ichigo clenched her fists, "how dare you mock me. You don't know anything about me and while I have made some mistakes they in no way make you my superior."

"Yes they do. Your title means nothing here, Ichigo. The courtesies that you have received would have been given to any Saiyan. You are the first we have ever met since Vegeta settled here so for that we are as a group slightly more willing to humor you."

"How dare..." Ichigo started to say when Goshu cut her off with a glare and an up held hand.

"I am not finished hear me out please. As a warrior you have fighting abilities that demand respect and for those things I do respect you. However, as a person you have a long way to go. As the saying goes, the ball is in your hands. What you do now will more likely then not determine the success of our training." Goshu glanced up towards were the Sanctuary was. "Roshi has done far more then even I would have done for someone in your situation. You wonder how he trusts you? I can't answer for him, but I can say that he tends to bring the best out in people. I hope for your sake there is more to you then the façade of anger and mistrust that you seem to extrude like sweat."

Ichigo literally didn't know what to say. Had Goshu said such things to her just a few days earlier she realized that she would have tried to kill him for it. But now, now she wasn't nearly so reactive, and he actually made her think.

'Why am I so important? Roshi is stronger, I have no idea how strong his father is but just his presence is commanding. If my title is not important, why am I important? From what I have been told, Roshi's ancestors could have taken on planets full of Changelings and not been so much as scratched.' Ichigo pondered for a moment longer and then looked up at Goshu. "Why do you claim that I will determine the success of this training you want us to do now?"

Goshu gave her an odd look. "Don't move." He said as he floated closer to her.

Ichigo quickly floated back away from him.

"I said don't move." Goshu repeated as he once again floated closer to her.

Once again Ichigo floated away.

Goshu cocked an eye at her and shook his head. "So, what are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything!" Ichigo yelled at him as she flew within arms reach of him.

Goshu just looked her in the eyes and then turned away. Looking over his back he replied, "Yes you are. You are afraid to trust. Even more so than that, however, is that you are afraid to hope. You are right, I don't know you. I don't know why you are who and what you are. But I can tell you that you don't like trusting anyone but yourself. Because of your position on Saiya that was probably a good thing, but here it will get people hurt or worse. It already has and it will again if you don't change."

"What are you saying? Change what?" Ichigo demanded.

"When the Changeling arrives we will have to fight it. None of us is strong enough alone to beat it. We will have to work as a well tuned unit, totally trusting and dependant on each other if we are to succeed. If you can't even trust me enough to not move when I float near, how can I trust you to block an errant ki blast?" Goshu once again looked up towards the Sanctuary.

"Roshi knows nothing but trust. He really does see almost everyone as having the same motives and ideas as he holds for himself. Tee and Boxers function much like twins they are never apart. Nail and Piccolo are brothers and have the memories of the Piccolo who fought with and against Goku. Yoshi and myself were the last students of the greatest master and teacher of Martial arts ever born on Earth. I don't know who else will be part of our little group, but each of us will have our part in the whole." He finished.

Ichigo glared at him. "So what, you are telling me I don't fit in? If you are so sure I don't fit in with your little group why did you try to stop me from leaving? Why even include me? I still don't understand why you think it is important that I am part of your group. I am not part of your group, I am and always will be myself. I am Princess of the Saiyan race and it is because of me that the Changeling is even coming here! You all talk in riddles!"

"Like I said, you are afraid to hope. I really don't know why I tried to stop you. As you said you will always be who you are. If that title is all you are then go, you can't help us here. I am sorry to have wasted your time."

"Can't you say anything in a coherent way? Must everything be some vague commentary? What does hope have to do with any of this?! I have hope or I wouldn't be here!" Ichigo yelled at him.

"No you don't and that is the problem. You are here because of who you are and your own sense of duty. Admit it, if it wasn't for the fact that you lead a Changeling here you would be long gone." Goshu said as he started heading towards the Sanctuary.

Ichigo hurried to catch up. "Of course I would be gone. There is nothing for me here. You aren't Super Saiyans and I know better then to think that any of you would bother risking your lives if you didn't have this planet to protect!"

"Wrong answer. Yes, the fact that if we don't succeed we will all die is definitely a good reason to train, but Roshi was training you and Tee and Boxers even before he knew that there was a Changeling coming. Why do you think he did that?" Goshu said over his shoulder.

"I don't know! You are his father! You tell me. Since obviously everything revolves around him. Why you stoop to abide by his decisions is beyond me and contrary to everything I know!"

Goshu stopped again and gave Ichigo another one of those probing stares. "Oh make no mistake I am not following Roshi. Not as far as the Changeling is concerned at least. When he chose to give you that senzu rather then finish you off he chose the path all of us would take but that was in a way destiny and no one can go against that."

"You didn't answer my question." Ichigo pointed out.

"You have not answered any of mine either." Goshu replied.

Ichigo rolled her eyes and forced herself to calm down. "Now I know why Roshi talks to much. Do you actually have a point to all of this or are you just going to keep making elaborate word puzzles that leave me more confused then I was to begin with?"

"Oh, you want the point? The point of all of this is so that I could see how you would react to certain things. The point of this was to see just what you actually thought. The point of this was that for some unknown reason you don't have hope. You have an overriding sense of duty and honor, which drives you to succeed, but you have no hope. Because you can't dare yourself to hope you also are afraid to trust any of us. You use the defense that I don't know you to deflect my inquiries, but then are unwilling to open up and really say why I am wrong."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed, but she did not speak.

"You are important and whether you like it or not you are part of the group because your presence is the cause of our fight. But more then that you are also a symbol of some of the things we have lost over the years. If you fight with us we are suddenly fighting for more then just ourselves or the Earth but also for everything you represent."

"And here I thought you said that my title wasn't important."

"It isn't. You however represent a cause. It is a cause that we can put some hope into even if you do not."

Ichigo didn't speak.

"The point of this is that if you cannot bring yourself to trust us then you exclude yourself from our group. That exclusion will weaken the bonds of hope and will lead to us second guessing our actions. It will cause a moments hesitation on the battlefield. It will cause a second glance to make sure you or someone else is there. Without that trust and without that hope in not only our cause but your cause the only hope for us to win is in the Super Saiyan.

Ichigo chewed on her bottom lip and thought in silence for a few minutes. "Why don't you want one of us to go Super Saiyan?"

"In the fight with Frieza, Goku did everything he could and lost. Frieza came back from what should have been a fatal attack, an attack, which was Goku's last chance and could not be repeated. Gohan, Goku's son kept a detailed journal and he said that in that moment he saw fear in his father's eyes for the first time. Frieza had beaten Goku's spirit. He lost it only for a few moments, but that was all that really mattered. If he had just killed them there, Frieza would probably still be in control of most of the planets left in this region of space. Frieza gloated however and Piccolo almost sacrificed himself to save Goku. Seeing Piccolo down, Frieza mockingly killed Krillen, who was Goku's best friend. He then threatened Gohan."

Goshu shook his head slowly, "No one really knows what trigger's the transformation. Usually it is associated with a great sense of loss or a great pain. Goku found it because a friend died and his son was threatened. Vegeta found it because he finally was overcome with his own failures and the pain caused him to transform. Gohan made it because he needed to, and because he as well felt he had failed in the past. If becoming a Super Saiyan was easy we would all be Super Saiyans. I for one would rather not experience the types of pain that normally cause it."

"So you are afraid." Ichigo stated with contempt.

Goshu smirked and shook his head. "Anyone who isn't is a fool. Yes I am afraid. Not really for myself, but for Roshi, and Tee, and Boxers, and in no small amount for you as well."

"Why would you care one way or another about me? Everyone here seems to care, but why? Why am I so important? And besides that why are you afraid for Roshi? From everything I have heard or learned about him, he is practically perfect and infallible. One would think people would be worshiping him in the streets."

"Roshi is far from infallible. He has lead up to this point in time a very soft life. He could do almost anything he wanted and get away with it. Nothing he ever truly desired was denied him. He has never gone up against failure and had to back down."

Goshu took a deep breath and looked back at Ichigo. "I know that if worse comes to worse the best chance we have for one of us to become a Super Saiyan is probably either Roshi or myself, and knowing what it took for Goku to find the key, I fear for Roshi if he is put into the same situation. Once innocence is lost, it can never be found again."

"Most people on Saiya would call you a sentimental fool. Fear is a weakness, to talk about it so freely would invite ridicule and even listening to you bothers me. I think however you did help me in one aspect of my enigma. By my people's standards Roshi shouldn't exist. He is too soft and such softness is a weakness and he would not have been allowed to remain so innocent. Yet at the same time, only one as... soft," Ichigo tried to keep the disgust at the words she was speaking out of her voice, "as Roshi would have let me live after out first meeting. I know he is not weak, yet all my training and experience tells me that he should be."

"And?" Goshu inquired.

"And what?" Ichigo said back.

"And what have you learned from all this?"

"Ichigo rolled her eyes. "I learned to never get into a conversation with you. You ask too many questions and then you turn my questions back at me. Until you tell a few things I am not going to answer another question."

Goshu smirked, "Fair enough, what do you want to know now?"

"I want to know why you said you fear for ME since I don't want or need anyone to waste there energy spending a worthless emotion on me. I also want to know why you didn't count me as a possible Super Saiyan even though I am fairly certain I am stronger then you are." Ichigo demanded.

"And here I thought you wanted to know something hard. I fear for you because you have lost your sense of hope. Something happened to you during your life, which hurt you greatly. I can see you tensing up just listening to my talk and because you tense you put up walls and close yourself off from the rest of us. You were hurt and now you can't or won't trust others for fear that you will be hurt again. It is because your life has been so harsh and you are so accustomed to it that I doubt you will find the impetus to reach the level of Super Saiyan. You said it yourself, emotions are seen as weaknesses, since you neither rule nor use or even accept those emotions you will always be one step short of your goal. That is why I said you need to change, and why I fear for you."

Ichigo shivered and tasted bile in her mouth. She literally felt several barriers that she hadn't even realized were there start to fall. While Goshu wasn't totally right, he was close enough to the point and blunt enough that his words hit harder then the strongest of punches.

Ichigo hugged herself and tried to control her breathing. After about a minute she realized that Goshu had left. Sensing him nearing the location where she could feel Roshi and his cousins, she flew to catch up.

--

Tee, Boxers, and Slip were busy arguing over which was worse, men or women. Roshi felt bad for the guys as even working together Slip seemed to be winning the argument. There was just something really powerful about a mad and determined person of the female gender. The fact that Slip was a genius and the two boys had always been slackers didn't help them any either.

Meanwhile, Roshi was looking over the side of the Sanctuary wondering what was taking his father and Ichigo so long. They seemed to be just hanging in the air not doing anything. 'I wish Dende were out here, if he was here I would actually be able to see what was going on, but the nifty see anything on the planet thing only seems to work when he is around.'

Roshi was just about to jump off and fly to them to see what was going on when his father started flying towards the Sanctuary again.

Goshu landed near Roshi and looked over the group. He cocked an eye and turned to look at Roshi. "Slip actually came?"

"What you mean that wasn't your idea? Why is she here then?" Roshi replied back, "She can't fight and she will only get in the way."

"Actually, it was Teddy's idea, she wanted Slip out of her hair for a bit so she wouldn't feel guilty over all the stuff that has happened lately. Teddy also thought that it wouldn't be right for Ichigo to have to train for a year in a room with only men around. She said that having Slip around would help ease some of the stress."

"Teddy is trying to kill us. Ichigo hates Slip. If anything she will make things worse!"

Goshu smiled and looked around. "Relax Roshi, a lot can happen in the year of training and look at it this way, since Ichigo and Slip will be bunking together Slip may learn how not to be so obnoxious."

Roshi sweat dropped and quickly made sure Slip was still arguing with Tee and Boxers and therefore oblivious to his conversation with his father. "Um we can hope. She will ether learn that or Ichigo will kill her."

"Hey, they say adversity is the best teacher. I doubt Slip will learn much but we can hope." Goshu said with a laugh.

A sudden thought hit Roshi. "I don't think I want to see what would happen if those two actually saw something eye to eye. I think it would cause me a lot of problems in fact."

Goshu actually burst out laughing, which caused the other three to stop arguing and start walking over. "Oh my, you might be wise in that opinion. Remind me to tell you about the one time Teddy and Maxine and Raven pulled a prank on PJ and I." Goshu said as he lead Roshi over to where Slip had dropped all her bags. "Anyway everyone listen up. I need to go get some supplies. Everyone wait here, we will all be going into the Room of Spirit and Time for our training. I suggest you all just sit down and relax for a while, it will be the last few moments of peace you will have for a very long time." Goshu said before he took off and flew away.

"Oh great now we just sit here and do nothing for a few more hours. I could have been spending time with Aiako." Tee muttered.

"Oh you stupid little baby. Whaaa whaaa whaaa I don't get to spend time with my girl." Slip spat back mocking Tee. "You think I want to be here? I'm not a fighter! I'm a scientist. I am an engineer. But my mom thought it would be good for me. So just shut up about missing your stupid date!"

Ichigo landed silently and watched the group apprehensively for a few moments. She was chewing on her lip, deep in thought as she slowly walked closer to them.

Since she seemed to be walking towards him, Roshi blocked out what his cousins were saying and walked a few steps towards Ichigo as he crossed his arms over his chest. 'let's see if she apologizes.'

She glanced up and then quickly away. It was the first time he had ever really seen her act in a fashion that show she was ashamed about anything.

"I'm waiting." Roshi said calmly.

Ichigo looked up at him with a puzzled expression on her face. "Oh, for what?" She asked.

Roshi rolled his eyes and turned around. Calling over his back he spoke, "never mind, if you don't know, telling you won't mean anything." He said with contempt as he walked back to Tee, Slip, and Boxers.

"Oh so just because you won't allow yourself to date you think I shouldn't either? Jealousy isn't a good trait for you Slip." Tee shot back.

"Jealousy! I can get a date anytime I want to. I mean look at me! What guy wouldn't want to date me? I'm not jealous. If you want to waste your time thinking about some stupid girl then feel free. Idiot!"

"I wouldn't want to date you." Roshi said as he entered the group. "Now can you guys just drop the subject. What is more important; worrying about a missed date or saving the planet so you can go on more dates later? I mean, I'm missing a date with Mariah too, but you don't see me complaining."

"What is a date?" Ichigo asked from the side looking rather perturbed that she was not being included in the little group of cousins.

"What? You don't know what a date is?" Slip gasped before laughing, "Well I guess we can't expect everything from a social reject."

Ichigo's face flushed with anger. "I am not a reject. Now what is a date? Why would it be something that is worth saving a planet for?"

For once Slip didn't have a comeback.

"A date is how two people normally a guy and a girl get to know each other in the attempt to fall in love and get married." Boxers said as he reached over to jab Roshi and Tee in their sides. "Right lover boys?"

Roshi blushed cardinal red for a few moments and sweat dropped. "Well, eventually yeah that tends to be the point."

"So it is like an odd form of courtship then?" Ichigo asked.

"Well yeah, if it gets that far it is, otherwise the two break up and go their own ways, which is exactly what Aiako might do if I keep having to ignore her." Tee said quickly while glaring at Slip.

"That is a stupid custom." Ichigo said while scrunching her eyebrows in thought.

"Stupid? What do you mean what is so stupid about it?" Slip demanded.

Ichigo looked at her like she was an idiot, "you tell me, you seem to be against this dating idea anyway. But why waste the time when the relationship is not destined to be actual courtship?"

"Ah, so you know she, or he is right. I mean how else are you going to fall in love?" Tee said back.

Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Love is the result of courtship. Not a prerequisite. It really isn't even necessary." She said looking down and away.

"Not necessary? The result? What? So if your people don't date and you don't even think love is necessary how do you know who to marry?" Boxers asked exasperatedly.

Ichigo looked away. "I don't want to talk about this. You obviously wouldn't understand."

"Probably something barbaric like arranged marriages to a cousin or other relative to keep the Royal line pure." Slip sneered. "Just how inbred are you?"

Before any of them could blink, Ichigo had Slip hoisted into the air by her throat gagging her. "For someone totally lacking in morality you use the word barbaric far too much. What you suggest is vulgar in an extreme!" Ichigo spat up at Slip before she threw her down at her feet and started walking away.

Slip cleared her throat. "Wow must have hit too close to home. Must be tough trying to arrange marriage to a brutal wench like yourself. I feel sorry for the poor idiot that got forced into marrying you. Hell if I had been arranged to marry someone like you I think I would find a way to kill myself."

Ichigo stopped walking and stood very still for a few moments. When she turned back, Roshi could see a small trickle of blood on her lip where she had bitten herself and a few tears welling in her eyes. "His name was Suikan and he is dead. He was murdered in my place when I was twelve." Ichigo turned around to walk away and almost tripped over one of Slip's bags. She punted the bag and it blew apart spreading clothing all over the surface of the Sanctuary and into the winds of the Earth.

Roshi turned to glare at Slip. "Thanks a hell of a lot. Do you always have to have the last little glib comment?"

Slip's face was white and her mouth was formed into an almost perfect O. "I didn't mean to. I didn't think she would react like that."

A black lace bra blew past Roshi and he caught it almost as an afterthought. "Well think harder next time. And you might want to pick up your all your underwear before they all blow away." He said as he handed the bra back to her.

Slip had been staring at Ichigo's back as she leaned against one of the many columns near Dende's Palace and had not even notice what he gave her. Looking down she immediately started blushing crimson. "Ahh, my stuff!" She yelled as she started frantically trying to gather up her wardrobe.

--

'Why did I tell them about Suikan? Now all they will want to know more and what do I tell them? Roshi's father seems to think I am too closed off, but I don't see what is wrong with that. Why can't I just be who I am. Why am I always expected to be someone different? I can't be a simple warrior cause I am a leader. I'm not the leader the people want because I am not a prince. Then I had to act like the Rebels who don't even exist anymore and now they expect me to act like one of them and be all soft and cuddly or something. I don't even know who I am anymore I have spent so much of my life pretending to be someone else.'

Ichigo felt Roshi walking towards her. 'I don't want to talk to him, but I doubt anything I say will keep him away for long. He is persistent if nothing else. Why did I have to react to what that stupid bitch was saying?'

"I'm sorry." Roshi said quietly as he kneeled next to where she sat.

Ichigo glared at him with bloodshot eyes. "What for? What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong. You never do anything wrong!"

"Whoa, whoa there what on Earth gave you that idea? I do all kinds of things wrong. And I am sorry that you were in a way forced to admit what you admitted to Slip."

"It isn't your fault. You don't have the right to feel sorry. Apology not accepted. Now leave me alone."

"No"

Ichigo felt herself cringe. "I remind you that I kick. Leave me alone."

Roshi laughed, but changed the way he was kneeling instantly. "I remind you that I hit very hard, and now that you warned me you won't get to take me by surprise so you either get up and stop feeling sorry for yourself or I might just have to hurt you."

"Do it, it will only make me stronger. Besides, you couldn't hurt a fly." She said back. 'Why can't I stay mad at him? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?'

"Look Ichigo, you don't have to like us. Heaven knows you probably want to kill Slip every time you look at her. But you do have to work with us if you want to train. So, please, get up and come back to were the rest of us are sitting."

'I'm not going anyplace near that bitch.' Ichigo turned to look at Roshi. "No. You are just going to have to make me."

"I think that was a challenge. You know I don't react to challenges well."

"To bad. I'm not going over by Slip."

"Hey, progress you said her name rather then calling her a bitch or something." Roshi said in an overly cheerful tone of voice.

"Don't care. I'm not moving. Touch me and your balls die."

"And now we move to venom. Fine, you want to talk about Saiya then? I'm all ears." Roshi said as he walked around to sit down across from her.

Ichigo hugged herself. 'I hate him I hate him I hate him. I'm not going to tell him anything and he knows it so he gives me an either or option and tries to get me to choose the easiest of those options. Well it won't work. I can ignore him forever.'

After a few minutes of no one talking Roshi finally got up. "Fine, I'll just bring Slip over here."

"Oh no you don't" Ichigo said as she jumped up and grabbed him by the arm pulling on him to get him to stop.

Roshi walked to the center of the Sanctuary and then stopped. There, was that so hard? Now you are up and not moping nearly so much and you can stop feeling sorry for yourself."

'Your father said it best, you haven't ever lost so how can you know what I have gone through? You can't and I am not about to tell you.' Ichigo thought as she glared daggers at Roshi.

"Not going to talk then? Well fine, we can just stand here all day long. I don't mind." Roshi said while giving Ichigo that same lopsided smile he always had.

'I so hate that smile.'

--

Boxers, Tee, and Slip watched as Roshi and Ichigo glared at each other silently. They hadn't moved in over half an hour.

"Psst, Tee, go get it for me." Slip whispered into Tee's ear.

Tee looked at her like she had just grown scales and grown several new heads. "Are you insane? I'm not touching that! I wouldn't want to touch it even if she wasn't standing on it!"

"Boxers I'll give you..."

Boxers cut her off. "Slip you don't have anything I want and you definitely don't have enough to get me to do that."

"But it is my favorite one! It fits so well and I need it back." Slip begged.

Tee held up his hands. "Ewww, too much information. And if you want it back go get it yourself." He said before shoving Slip forward so that she practically fell at Ichigo's feet.

Ichigo glared down at her. "What do you want?"

Slip sweat dropped and turned white as a ghost. "Um I... ah... need that and um you are... um... standing on it." She said while pointing at Ichigo's feet.

Ichigo looked down and then quickly bent to pick up the object she had been standing on.

Roshi almost laughed at the look on her face as she examined the lacy blue padded wonder bra.

After squeezing the one of the padded cups once and looking at Slip, Ichigo burst into laughter.

"What the hell is so funny?" Slip demanded.

"So this is how you make yourself look so ridiculously and excessively, unnatural."

Slip gasped. "What?! Let me tell you.. you.. you... Butch girl! These are totally natural!" She said while pointing to her chest.

"They look stupid and excessive." Ichigo replied before snapping one of the flimsy straps on the bra. "And this thing is worthless."

"Gah! You broke my best Bra you bitch! And they aren't excessive I'm only a C cup I am the epitome of feminine beauty!"

"Human standards for beauty are skewed terribly, and besides beauty is for liftskirts and whores. No one else cares."

Roshi had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing out loud. Slip was practically foaming at the mouth. It was one of the most hilarious things he had ever seen in his life.

"LIFTSKIRT! LIFTSKIRT! Why I never! How dare you call me that you butch flat chested tomboy! Just because you wouldn't know how to attract a man if you were the last woman alive doesn't mean you have to resort to jealous name calling!"

Roshi slapped his hands over his mouth to keep himself from laughing but that didn't stop the tears from flowing down over his hands. 'I don't know what Slip is talking about. Sure Ichigo isn't ample but she isn't flat either she has more then Mar... I didn't just think that I didn't just think that I didn't just think that I didn't just think that. Mauled by a bear, heart ripped out. Testicles shattered. STOP THINKING ABOUT ICHIGO YOU MORON!!'

"Who's jealous? As that one television show I watched last week said; better to have what I do then be droopy like you."

"WHAT! YOU FLAT CHESTED FREAK! I AM NOT DROOPY I AM AS PERKY AS THEY COME!! ARE YOU BLIND?!"

"Wait ten years." Ichigo said smugly before giving Slip back the shredded remains of her bra and walking away.

Slip descended into incoherent stuttering as Roshi, Tee, and Boxers all burst out laughing.

'Dende, I hope this isn't an omen. I don't think I could take a year of this.' Roshi thought as his father, Dende, Piccolo, Nail, and Yoshi all landed on the edge of the Sanctuary.

"Well you guys ready for some intensive training? Doesn't matter if you are or not, it is time to train. Follow me." Goshu said as he headed for the ROSAT.

--


	35. Strife of Egos

Chapter 35

Strife of Egos

Friday 4:00 pm

Ichigo wiped a tear from her eye as she forced herself not to laugh.  'I can't believe I just said that!'  She thought to herself as she walked away from the fuming Slip.

'I cannot believe I actually started that conversation.  Of all the demeaning ridiculous things I could have allowed myself to be brought into and I was the one who did it.  I can't stand her!  Slip has no place here.  Roshi and his father said we were going to be training here.  That moral wasteland is a worthless scientist and she will always be a worthless scientist!'

"Well, you guys ready for some intensive training? Doesn't matter if you are or not, it is time to train. Follow me." Goshu called out.

Ichigo turned around and looked to see Goshu, a man she didn't know, Dende, and two other Namekians walking towards one of the large arched doorways.  Roshi, Tee, and Boxers were rapidly trying to catch their breath and stop laughing while they started to follow.  Slip was still red faced and foaming at the mouth over near one of the many palm trees.

Ichigo just shook her head.  'If this ragtag group of people is all that they have to save their planet and eventually, hopefully, mine as well...  Then I don't know why I stayed.'

"Hey Slip!"  Roshi called out, "you going to stand there stuttering all day long or are you going to actually attempt to lean how to fight?"  Roshi called out as he walked by her and picked up a few of her bags.

"Why you! YOU! YOU! TRAITOR!  Why are you siding with her?"  Slip yelled as she jabbed a finger at Ichigo.

'Hmm, breaking every single bone in her hand might make me feel better'  Ichigo mused as she turned to follow Goshu and the others into the Building.  "I didn't know there was a side to this, but you should get ready to lose.  I make a really poor sport when I lose."  She said over her back as she walked past Slip.

"You ungrateful stupid bitch!!!"  Slip spat, "if it weren't for us you would be dead and everyone you know would be dead and you owe us everything you stupid..."

Ichigo spun to glare into Slips eyes cutting off her tirade.  "As I recall the only part you had in any of this was mutilating my tail and otherwise behaving like a person so vacant of moral worth one could question if you even have a soul.  Don't you dare claim I owe you anything..."

WHACK!!!  Ichigo suddenly felt the heel of a hand connect to the very base of her skull.  The stunning blow knocked her forward about 30 meters and sent electric chills throughout her body.

Ichigo quickly pulled herself onto her knees and rolled her neck stretching it and letting her vertebrae pop as she cleared her head.  While every moment she was on the ground left her more vulnerable, jumping to her feet before she got her sense of balance back would have probably been just as bad.

"Oomph!" Slip grunted as she landed next to Ichigo.  A shadow passed over her and Ichigo looked up to see Goshu glaring down at the two of them.

Goshu glared down at her and then at Slip and then looked at the rest of the people who had gathered around to watch what was going on.  "Let me make myself clear.  You are on MY time now.  Look around you, these people are all that stands between us and total annihilation.  I don't know what caused this petty self serving bickering but it ends NOW!"

Goshu looked away for a moment and then looked back into Ichigo's eyes.  "You should be ashamed of yourself.  Your behavior is hardly appropriate for someone in your position.  You know full well that if we cannot work together we will probably fail.  I don't care about your wounded pride for the good of your people you had damn well better drop this now."  

He then turned and looked at Slip.  "And your behavior is so much like how your mother acts when she has to admit fault I almost think it is some sort of genetic defect.  I don't care and I definitely don't have the time for it but you maybe should remember the because of circumstances, if you don't start getting along with her there may not be a Capsule Corp for you to come back to."

"You get that everyone.  We have a year of intensive training ahead of us and whether you like it or not we are more or less stuck together so you had better choose to like it and you had better do so now."  Goshu said as he turned and walked briskly back into the building.

Ichigo rubbed at the back of her neck for a moment.  'Well I know were Roshi gets his temper now.'  She thought as she slowly got back up.

"That was really cool."  Roshi suddenly blurted before he shook his head and once again grabbed a bunch of bags.

"Earth to Roshi, your father is a maniac!  He looked like he was about to kill those two."  Tee said in shock.

Roshi laughed.  "Oh, well, the words were true and all, but the anger that was really cool.  I didn't know my dad could act that well."

"ACT?!"  Slip shouted.  That wasn't an act!  Did you see what he did to me?!?"

"Unfortunately no, that would have been fun."  Ichigo stated as she walked up to the small group of teens.  "But I think Roshi might be right.  He didn't feel angry to me."

"Feel angry?"  Boxers questioned.

Ichigo shook her head.  "The only person I can compare it to is Roshi, but when he actually gets mad his ki goes up but it also feels slightly different.  His father's ki never went up that hi and it never changed even when it did go up."

Roshi shook his head.  "She hit the nail on the head.  That and I have never in my life ever actually seen my dad act like that.  He was trying to get a fear reaction.  I think it would be wise to heed his words though."

"It would, now are you people coming today?  You can talk once we are in the Room of Spirit and Time.  Right now you are eating training time.  We have no idea how soon the Changeling or Changelings will be here and the sooner we get into the ROSAT the more time I have to beat you all into a respectable group."  Goshu said from where he was leaning against the arched door frame.  "Oh, and just because Roshi ruined my fun and was honest enough to spill the beans doesn't mean I won't beat the tar out of you if I ever catch any of you bickering like that again."  

"Sorry, we're coming now."  Roshi said as he started walking towards the door.  "One thing is certain, this will be an interesting year."

'That's the second time someone has said we would be training for a year...'  Ichigo thought as she started to follow Roshi.  "Roshi, what do you mean by a year.  I don't have time to waste training for a year.  Even if no Changeling shows up for a year if I wait that long there won't be anyone left to save."  She said as she fell instep with Roshi.

Roshi looked over at her and smirked.  "Yes you do.  The Room of Spirit and time is special.  Time is different in there.  We can train for a year in there while only a day goes by out here."

When what Roshi said sunk in to her head, it stopped her dead.  "You mean you can train for years in only a few days with this room?  Why didn't you take me here immediately?  I could have trained and learned everything and been gone before Banana and the rest of those... those traitors showed up."  She said with a slight hitch in her speech and a shudder.

Roshi looked over at her and paled a touch.  "You are still having problems with what happened?"

"I'm Fine." Ichigo stated with finality.  "Now why didn't we come here right away?"

"Because, a person can only spend two days of their life in this room and more over, I didn't know if I could trust you... Kinomi"  Roshi said reminding her that she hadn't been the most forthcoming.

Ichigo sucked on her lip for a moment, "Point taken, now let's get in there and get training."  She said sullenly as she walked past Roshi.

* * *

Roshi watched as Ichigo brushed past him and walked through the shimmering white archway and into the Room of Spirit and time.  'I can understand her desire for haste, but this is not the time for haste.'

Roshi walked through the door and into a room of heavy white nothingness.  Roshi almost stumbled as he stepped into the higher gravity of the room.  What stopped him was the fact that he immediately walked into Ichigo who had stopped to gape at her surroundings.  

"Hey watch it!"  Ichigo snapped as she turned around to glare at Roshi.  

"Sorry, but you shouldn't have stopped there."  Roshi said back as he saw Slip start to walk into the room.  Moving quickly as to keep Slip from bumping Ichigo and thereby causing more problems between the two of them, he pushed Ichigo back a step.

"Waaahh  oooph!"  Slip cried out as she walked into the room and fell flat on her face from the sudden change in gravity.

"Ymmph, you can't even walk right.  Some warrior you'll make.  Ichigo sniped before turning and walking towards where Goshu was standing watching them.

Slip hauled herself to her feet and glared daggers into Ichigo's back.  She turned and glared at Roshi, "don't even think it.  If you side with her one more time I'm going to find a way to kill the both of you!"

Roshi held his hands up in surrender.  "Not thinking anything here."  Roshi said as he turned to walk over to his father.  Looking over his back he couldn't resist the temptation, "but you should try to stand up straight, you look like an old hunched backed woman standing like that."

"Why YOU!!! I'm going to... AaaK"  Slip screamed before Tee and Boxers walked into the room and knocked her over.  "Watch where you are going!"

"Alright everyone, No more picking on Slip.  She is just as important as the rest of us and by the time we are done training she might even be better then a few of us so I would watch my tongue if I were you."  Goshu said from over where he was standing.

"Now, Slip did you bring the capsule houses?"  Slip shook her head and Goshu continued, "good, now as you can all see, the clock over the door tells us what time it is outside.  It moves quite slow because for every hour that goes by outside this room, we will experience a little over 15 days worth of time.  Over time this place has had some changes happen to it and I think I will let Dende tell you all what you need to know."

Dende nodded and looked around.  "When I was first made Kami the Room of Spirit and time in my old sanctuary could only hold two people at once, Now as you can see it can hold many more.  Now, as you can see there is a lot of nothing in here.  This room is roughly five times the size of the Earth.  Goku once got lost in here and had some degree of problems getting back out, please don't stray too far away." Dende waited for them to stop laughing and looked around in a way that informed them all that he hadn't been joking.  "The room also randomly changes gravity, temperature, and amount of light.  It will vary from normal Earth gravity to 100 times normal.  The temperature of the room will vary from 60 below to 50 above Celsius.  Also, the amount of light cycles from dusk to dawn to dusk in the normal twenty-four hours."

"Thank you Kami."  Goshu looked around.  "Ok now that the formalities are finished we can get to work.  Slip, I want you to set up the houses near this doorway structure here.  Nail, Dende, and Piccolo will share the rooms that are in this structure"  Goshu said as he pointed to the temple like building that made up the doorway and clock.  "Yoshi and myself will share one of the houses.  Slip and Ichigo will be in another, and lastly the three of you boys will share one as well."

"I'm not..." Slip started to say but Goshu had kept talking and had glared her into silence.

"You will share, and you will enjoy it.  Now, Slip also brought one of the armor factories for us and enough food for all of us as well.  This room provides all the rice we can eat, but I like having some meat with my rice."  Goshu chuckled at his lame joke and continued.  "Since we are here to train and to learn to trust each other as a team, we will be trading off the cooking duties."  

"Yeah right, I'm not eating anything Slip cooks!"  Tee blurted out.

Slip glared at him but almost looked like she agreed with him.

Roshi glanced at Ichigo, "Well at least I know my dad, Ichigo, and myself can cook.'  He looked at Yoshi and Boxers, 'hopefully they can too.'

Enough of this, we will ALL cook and we will all eat and we will live through it."  Goshu said with authority.  "Now, who wants to go first?"

Not surprisingly no one spoke up.

"Well?"

After a few more seconds Ichigo finally spoke up and agreed to cook.

"Great, ki blasted burnt offerings tonight."  Tee whispered to Boxers.  Unfortunately for him in the empty and silent room his voice carried quite well.  Ichigo just glared at him.

'Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee, Tee...  When will you learn to keep your mouth shut?'  Roshi wondered to himself.  'You've just managed to insult two of the most pride bound women I have ever met.  I hope for your sake they don't make you eat your words.'

"Okay then, listen up, now is when the real training starts.  We have a year, possibly two in which we can train to defeat the Changelings.  If everything goes well, one or more of us might be a Super Saiyan before we leave this place.  BUT, even if that does not happen, there are several things we can learn and must learn here."  Goshu stated

"Roshi has learned how to do the Kaioken.  Hopefully he with Dende's help can teach that to us.  Nail and Piccolo have some of their namesakes memories, they therefore have learned the fusion dance.  I have been warned that the resulting Fusion is rather unreliable, but I think that it may be useful for Tee and Boxers, and possibly Myself and Yoshi to learn it as we are relatively close to our respective partners in power levels."

"Still want to do that dance with Ichigo, Roshi?"  Slip chirped from where she was standing.

Ichigo glared at Slip and then at Roshi as Tee and Boxers burst out laughing.  "What the heck is so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."  Roshi said quickly.  'Slip thinks she knows everything and she might be right about the possible effects of a male/female fusion, but it would be interesting to get a glimpse at what that girl is really thinking.  Since I am not telepathic or anything of the sort, that might be the easiest way.'

Ichigo looked him in the eyes for several moments and then turned away.  "Why do I get the feeling you aren't telling me something?"

"Because he isn't, but don't let that concern you."  Goshu said as he walked over to Roshi.  "Ok, Roshi, time for you to show us what you are made of.  I want you to go fight Piccolo and Nail now.  To be fair, I don't want you to use the Kaioken in this fight."

"Whatever you say dad.  I shouldn't have to need to use it anyway."  Roshi said as he followed the two Namekians away from the entryway and the buildings.

* * *

Ichigo watched as Roshi walked away from the group.  'He knows he is strong and therefore he grows cocky.  It is his greatest flaw.'

"So do you want us to just stand here and watch, or do we get to train as well?"  She asked Goshu impatiently.

"You are training.  Everyone watch this fight closely.  As you just heard, Roshi thinks he will have an easy victory on his hands.  Watch how he fights and learn his mistakes.  While this may not help you much once the Changelings arrive it will help make Roshi and yourselves less likely to make mistakes while fighting."

"Ah, so you want us to teach Roshi not to be quite so prideful?"  Boxers asked as he casually swung his sword around in an arc.

'What is it with men and swords?  That thing won't do a bit of good against a Changeling.'  Ichigo thought as she rolled her eyes and turned once again to watch Roshi.

"Yeah, the more arrogance you can beat out of him the better.  And that goes for you as well Ichigo.  Don't expect us to go easy on you just because of your status."  Goshu stated.

Ichigo felt her face flush with anger as she glared at Goshu.  "I neither desire nor want special treatment.  People have treated me differently my entire life, your informal disrespect of my title is somewhat refreshing.  In fact, I think I would be insulted if any of you started treating me any differently then you would treat Roshi for example."

Goshu laughed.  "Oh no, you don't want to be treated the same way as Roshi.  Roshi forgets too easily and needs to be reminded of things.  He will not have an easy time here.

Ichigo's cheeks were burning as she glared back into Goshu's eyes.  "Are you insinuating that I would not be able to take what you plan on doing to Roshi?"

Goshu stared right back unflinching.  "Absolutely.  Like it or not you could not handle the strain that I plan on putting Roshi through."

'Sexist pigs!  It doesn't matter where I go, they are always sexist pigs!'  Ichigo forced herself to calm down a touch.  "And why do you say that?"

Dende walked between the two of them and looked serenely into Ichigo's eyes.  "Calm yourself child.  Roshi knows the Kaioken and even without using it that ability makes him stronger.  You do not as of now know that technique.  Once you do Goshu might be more comfortable placing you in the situation Roshi will be in now.  Watch and learn."  The old wrinkled Namekian said as he pointed out towards where the threesome had gone off to just in time for Ichigo to catch the last moments of the Fusion Dance and watch as Piccolo and Nail became one.

Ichigo felt the wave of ki wash over her and took a breath.  'Whatever they just did it magnified their power enormously.'

Ichigo watched as Roshi crossed his arms in front of his chest and then whipped them out as he powered up.  His blue aura shown brightly and a second wave of ki passed over the group of bi-standers.

'So this is his true strength.'  Ichigo thought as she watched the two figures in the distance start to fight.  She glanced at Goshu and saw him look over at her in a smug knowing way.  'As much as I dislike admitting it you might be right.  Roshi is far stronger then I am.'

"Holy Shit!"  Slip suddenly stated from the behind the rest of them.  "Dende!... er sorry Dende but um... Roshi is at 320,000 and the fusion between Piccolo and Nail is at 540,000!"  Slip exclaimed while holding a scouter.  "I can't even follow them they are moving so fast!"

Ichigo glared at Slip simply because she was such a daft idiot and then looked back at the fight.  'Damn... I can barely follow them.'  Ichigo realized after a few minutes that she was jealous.  'I have a long way to go if I hope to stay equal with Roshi.'

* * *

Roshi hurt.  Muscles he had not realized he had hurt.  His bones and joints ached.  His lungs burned.  All and all Roshi just plane hurt.

'If only I could use the Kaioken.  Then this fight would have been over, but no, Dad thinks I need to hold back.'  Roshi grimaced as he tried to block an incoming jab to the ribs and received a kick to the back for his efforts.

Naiccolo didn't give him a moment to catch his breath either.  He brought his other knee up and buried it into Roshi's stomach.  Roshi coughed blood and his mouth filled with the taste of bile.

"What's the matter Roshi?  I thought you said this was going to be an easy fight."  Naiccolo taunted.

'Oh you cocky little bastard.  If I could use the Kaioken right now I would rub your face into it and then we would see who would be the one taunting.'  Roshi was getting extremely annoyed with the arrogant nature that seemed to emanate from Naiccolo like stink from a skunk.

The two warriors locked hands and slowly spun in the air as they kicked and kneed and blocked each other all while trying to over power the other.  Naiccolo slowly forced Roshi to the ground.  Once on the ground, Roshi was slowly forced to his knees as Naiccolo put huge amounts of strain on Roshi's wrists.

"Surrender Roshi you can't win."  Naiccolo said as he smiled his fangs looking all the more menacing.

"Yes I can.  I just have to wait four more minutes.  Then your fusion will end and I can take you individually."  Roshi spat raggedly.

"You think so?  You're out of breath and loosing strength fast.  I doubt the two of us would be any easier for you separated then we are now."

"We shall see."  Roshi grunted as he pulled his legs out from under him and kicked Naiccolo in the stomach, breaking their hand lock.

"Masenko!!"  Roshi yelled as he threw Gohan's signature yellow ball of ki at the stumbling Namekian fusion.

"Makankosappo!!"  Naiccolo yelled as he quickly fired off Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon.

The yellow ball and the spiraling orange beam slammed into each other moments later.  The Masenko exploded lighting the area in a bath of yellow light.  Because of it's drill like nature, the Makankosappo continued on to hit Roshi in the leg shredding his gi and slicing into the muscles of his calf.

"GGAAAWWW DEEEAAA!"  Roshi yelled as he spun to the side and then quickly reoriented himself to the fight.

"Give up.  Let our father heal you before you bleed all over everything."

Roshi glanced down at his leg and wiggled his foot.  It hurt and the sharp pain told him that he had definitely been injured, but it seemed mostly superficial.  "Nah, you hit a vein in my leg, but other then that it's just a scratch."

"Just a scratch huh?  We can fix that."  Naiccolo said as he held his hands out shoulder width apart and started to charge two green balls of ki.

* * *

"Roshi's power has dropped significantly."  Ichigo stated as she watched him knock two green ki balls away before getting kicked in the face.

"Yes, he needs to work on his stamina."  Goshu replied flatly.

"I almost killed him when he wore himself out in our first fight."  Ichigo stated not really realizing she was talking aloud.  'His strength drops by the moment.'

Goshu looked over at her.  "From what I have heard both of you are lucky to be alive."

"I don't believe in luck."  Ichigo muttered as Roshi was knocked backwards into the floor of the room.  Naiccolo quickly knee dropped onto him and everyone watching but Ichigo winced.

"Goshu, why doesn't Roshi use the Kaioken?"  Boxers suddenly asked from where he was leaning on his sword.  I mean, I know you told him not to, but he is getting piss pounded out there."

Goshu looked over at them for a moment.  "I honestly couldn't tell you.  I actually expected him to once he realized how badly out classed he was."

Ichigo practically choked on her tongue in shock.  "How can you say that?  Doesn't honor mean anything to you people?"  She demanded after clearing her throat.

Goshu looked at her calmly.  "Honor is very important.  I meant Roshi no disrespect, I just did not expect him to have as much self control as this in this situation.  Honor is a very hard thing to hold onto in times such as these.  I am actually quite proud of him for his restraint."

"But yet you don't actually expect it so you dishonor him by your words.  Some master you are."  Ichigo spat.

"You are right, however, I hardly think you are one to talk about honor.  How honorable have most of your actions since coming into this region of space been?"  Goshu snapped back.

The shame of her actions burned deep and having Goshu use her shame like a whip against her pride burned even deeper.  "I have not acted in the most honorable fashion, but to hear you talk in such a manner about your own son makes me question my time here."

"Honor isn't an absolute and there are more important things to live for than personal honor.  If you don't realize that then I question the value in helping you.  Think about what you have learned and then you may actually gain some perspective."

Ichigo narrowed her eyes and glared at Goshu for a moment before turning to watch the Fusion run out of time.  Roshi leapt forward and grabbed Piccolo and Nail's heads before they could react.  One quick action and he had knocked their heads together knocking them both out.

Ichigo pondered deep in thought as Roshi limped back towards the group.  'I am rapidly loosing my respect for this man,' she thought as she once again glared at Goshu.  'He is highly intelligent and seems to be quite wise, but he is shallow minded and inflexible.'  Ichigo realized that Goshu's current methods might just be a training method, but at the same time being treated like a child in such a manner left her opinion of him quite tainted.

After Dende healed Roshi's open wounds Goshu and Roshi went head to head.

"This should be an interesting fight."  Dende said to her as he walked back from where Roshi had stopped.

"Why do you say that?  Roshi should be a lot stronger then his father."  Boxers queried.  

"Experience speaks much stronger in many fights then raw power.  When I was just made Kami, Gohan was by far the strongest person to ever live.  I would have liked to see an actual all out fight between himself and Goku.  Likewise, Roshi is stronger then Goshu, but I think Goshu will have the advantage.  Especially given how worn out Roshi is."

"But I thought you healed him."  Tee mentioned.

"I did, but child you need to remember that while I heal, I cannot rejuvenate lost energy."

"So how much of a disadvantage would you put Roshi into then?  Especially if he doesn't use the Kaioken."  Ichigo asked.

"That child is not actually the correct question."

Ichigo grimaced at being called a child once more.  "Please don't call me a child."

Dende just smiled.  "Dear girl, I am over half a millennia old.  Everyone is a child to me."

"Alright then old man, what is the correct question?"

Dende laughed and looked down at Ichigo.  "I think I'm going to like you."  He said before walking away.

"Hey! You didn't answer me!"

Ichigo was about to follow him when a firm hand grabbed her cape at her shoulder.

"Hey! Hands off!"  Ichigo yelled as she spun and grabbed Piccolo's arm.  "I wasn't planning on fighting anyone but the Changeling's in this and if you damage it, I will damage you."

"You presume too much."  Piccolo stated as he let go of her cape.

Ichigo's mouth clicked shut and then fell open again.  'I presume too much?  I aught to...'  Ichigo was thinking when she realized he was right.

"You have any other insights to share?"  She snapped.

"None that you are willing to listen to, no."  Piccolo said back evenly.

Ichigo ground her teeth for a few moments and then glared at the Namekian.  "Alright, why did you stop me then?"

"Because you should be watching this fight.  And because I wanted to speak with you about Roshi."

Ichigo glanced from Piccolo to where Roshi and his father were fighting.  Neither one of the two Saiyans seemed to be giving ground as they traded blow for blow, block for block.

"And what do you have to say of Roshi?"

Piccolo looked at her curiously.  "I was wondering what you thought of the fight between Roshi and Nail and myself."

Ichigo winced inwardly as Goshu caught Roshi in the neck with a kick that sent him spinning away and into the ground.  'If he is the best chance I have, my chances are looking rather grim at the moment.'  Ichigo thought to herself before turning to look back at Piccolo.

"What about it, the Fusion technique seems to be very powerful.  You beat Roshi quite thoroughly."

"No we didn't."  Nail said as he walked up to them.

Ichigo pondered his comment for a moment while she watched Roshi block a large Kamehameha.  "He knocked the two of you out after the fusion wore out, but you two controlled the fight the entire time you were fused."

Dende came back from wherever he had gone off to and joined the conversation.  "Tell me child, who now controls the fight between father and son?"

Ichigo watched as Goshu threw Roshi into the floor only to receive a quickly shot off ki blast to the face.  By the time the smoke around Goshu had cleared both Roshi and his father were once again trading blow for blow.

"I would say at the moment they are fighting dead even.  Neither one of them controls the fight."  Ichigo said as she looked back at Dende and his sons.  'Roshi is letting this fight be equal.  I hadn't even noticed before, but his power level is staying right around 165,000 or so by my best guess.  Even during his fight with Piccolo and Nail he never dropped that low.'

"Really?  You think so?"  Nail queried.

Ichigo gave a disgusted sigh, "no, Roshi is letting his father fight him as an equal.  I am assuming he has his reasons, but since all four of us know he is a lot stronger then what he is showing himself to be today, I have to say he is letting the fight remain on equal terms."

Piccolo laughed.  "And why would you think he would do this?"

Ichigo was never one who liked being questioned.  She was rapidly losing her patience.  'How the heck am I supposed to know why that jerk would do anything?  If he wants to get beat on I will be sure to oblige him when it is my time to fight him.'  She glared at the Namekians and then watched as Roshi blinded his father with a Tayoken and followed it up by wrenching Goshu's arm around before throwing him into the ground.  

Goshu managed to hit Roshi with several small Energy Dan attacks and then get him in a head lock before Ichigo remembered Piccolo had asked her a question.

"I don't know.  You tell me, you guys know him a lot better then I do."

Dende laughed.  "Evasive as always I see.  As Kami I know the reasons behind his methods, but I shan't tell you for that would undermine your chances at true understanding."

Ichigo rolled her eyes.  "More mystical bullcrap."

Piccolo turned to glare at her.  "Yes, more mystical bull crap.  Just like the Super Saiyan and the very legends that dive both Roshi and yourself."

Ichigo decked him.

Piccolo slid across the room to bump into and come to a rest against one of the dome houses Slip had set up.  Ichigo quickly landed on him and grabbed his collar.  "Listen very closely!  I don't like it when people put on airs and act all smart.  I didn't like it when I was dealing with bigots like Banana and I don't like it now.  If you have something to say, say it.  Don't mince words and don't get all mysterious on me."  Ichigo pulled him to his feet and then continued.  

"I tolerate it to some degree from Roshi because I owe him.  I don't owe you and it really pisses me off when someone like the old man over there says something that can more or less be translated to I'm god so I know things but I won't tell you cause I don't want to but I'll just make you curious by dropping hints."

"Subtlety is totally useless with you isn't it?"  Piccolo asked before wiping some purple blood off of his cheek.

It took every gram of willpower she had not to deck him again.

"Humph, I don't have time for this."  Ichigo declared before setting off to find Slip.  While she didn't like dealing with the scientist, Slip was the only one who would be able to get her some new clothes.  Like she had said earlier, she wasn't about to train in her white and blue Royal armor.

* * *

"Haiii!!"  Roshi blocked another one of his father's kicks before catching Goshu in the forehead with a well-timed blow.

Goshu let the blow knock him into a back flip which allowed him to kick Roshi in the ribs and stomach as he flipped around.

"Ouuph!"  Roshi coughed as he spun away.  'Thinks he can pull that on me does he?'  Roshi flipped around and dove for the ground.  Once there he quickly flipped and shot upwards at his father at great speed.

"Ka..me..ha..me..HA!"  Goshu yelled as he shot the blue white beam downwards at his son. 

Roshi just cupped his hands and flew into the beam at full speed.  The energy caught and balled up in his hands forming an ever growing sphere around him as he continued to shoot towards his father.

"FOOMMMMPPP!!!!  The Kamehameha exploded and dispersed as Roshi flew through he spot his father had been occupying moments before.

Goshu caught him in the small of the back with his knee and quickly wrapped an arm around Roshi's neck putting him in a strangle hold.

"If I were one to judge I would say you are purposely trying to lose this fight."  Goshu spat in Roshi's ear as he ground his knee into Roshi's kidney.

"Lose?  Why would you say that?  I'm enjoying myself too much here dad."  Roshi replied before swinging his hands around and behind his head and firing off a large ki blast right into his father's face.

"You are still holding back.  You are not nearly as tired as you act."  Goshu spat as soon as he landed to face Roshi on the ground.

Roshi for his part was panting as though quite short of breath.  "Tired?  Being tired is a state of mind Dad.  How many times have to told me to push through the pain?"

"Obviously not enough."  Goshu spat back before starting to charge a Kamehameha.

Roshi spread his hands wide and almost half bowed to his father.  "Fire away, not like it will do you any good."

"Somebody needs to teach you not to be so cocky."  Goshu commented before firing off everything he had into the Kamehameha.

Roshi suddenly braced himself and tightened up his arms locking them where they were spread about a meter apart.  Moments before the Kamehameha would hit him  he spread his fingers out so as far as they could spread with the palms of his hands facing each other.  Liquid looking blue energy shot from his hands to ball in front of his heart.  Then at the last second he flipped his hands out so they faced his father.  The blue energy he had been building spread out like a sheet and his father's Kamehameha hit nothing but a silvery blue mirror of energy.

The Kamehameha slammed into his wall of ki with immense energy and as the ki wave pounded against the mirrored surface of Roshi's ki bubble, the bubble started to collapse.  Roshi felt his arms being forced back and the surface of his bubble closed to mere cm from his chest.

"YEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"  Roshi yelled as he forced his arms out and the ki bubble away from himself.

As Roshi extended his arms out and away from himself the Kamehameha bounced.  It bounced away from Roshi and his mirrored ki bubble and shot back at Goshu.

Goshu barely jumped out of the way and the beam shot past him to explode in the far distance of the Room of Spirit and Time.

"That was an interesting counter.  Fairly effective to I would say."  Goshu stated he looked at the billowing smoke cloud in the distance.

"No it wasn't.  It only worked cause it deflects the exact type of energy as what makes up a Kamehameha.  Had you thrown a Masenko or something of the sort in there with your Kamehameha, the mirror would have cracked like an egg and I would be needing Dende's help right now."

Goshu raised an eyebrow at Roshi as he walked closer, "then why use it?  Why not just knock the beam away or use some other method?"

"Because,"  Roshi said as he blocked his father's fist and twisted the older man's arm around before getting tripped and finally being forced to jump clear of his father.  "I was testing it.  Isn't that the point of Training?"

Goshu laughed.  "Very good.  And good of you to not lower your guard."

"The fight isn't over till you say it is.  You haven't called truce yet and I am not about to surrender."

"For being such a pain in the butt to train as a child you have actually learned a few things."  Goshu said teasingly.

"Oh no, that isn't about to work either dad.  You're not about to get me to lower my guard by making me get all defensive about myself."

Goshu laughed heartily.  "Can't blame me for trying."

"Nah, never blame the underdog for trying."  Roshi quipped.

Underdog huh?  Just for that I'm going to make you train twice as hard.  I call a truce, I have something better for you to be doing then just playing with me."  Goshu said as he shook his head.

"But it's so fun dad!"  Roshi chirped in an overly kiddy like voice.

"Right, go find Dende and get the weights I have for you.  Then I want you to do ten thousand each of sit-ups, pushups, jumping jacks and then fly sprint laps back and forth between the door and that blinky light tower I had Yoshi set up.  You can stop when Ichigo has the food ready.

Roshi looked off in the distance and guessed that the tower was well over 60 km away from the door.  He could cover that distance in a matter of seconds, but repetitively doing laps was in his opinion about as fun as listening to Rock brag about himself in class all day long.

"Ok,"  Roshi said dejectedly as he slowly flew towards Dende.

"Oh, the food should be ready in about an hour.  If you have not done all the warm ups and at least 200 laps you go without food tonight."  Goshu called out.

Roshi sped up significantly.

* * *

Ichigo felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead as she worked over the stove preparing the last of the Beef Soba.  As it finished simmering, she put the Milk and juice and water out on the table followed by pickles and some sweet bread she had baked.  Seeing that the Soba was done, Ichigo quickly dumped the noodles into a large bowl and then grabbed the bowl of rice and some egg roles.    After placing everything at the large table she wiped her brow and looked around.

'Where the heck is everyone?  Shouldn't they be as hungry as I am?'  She pondered for a moment before stepping out of the capsule house.  "HEY FOOD IS SEARVED COME GET IT BEFORE I EAT IT ALL!!!!!!"

Within milliseconds everyone save the Namekians, who did not eat, and Roshi, who was still at the far side of the sprint course, were seated at the table.

"Wow look at this food!"  Tee said as he gleefully started to dish himself some Soba.

Ichigo whipped her spatula at his forehead.  "You don't get any of this.  I have something special for you Tee.  Besides I might not be from here but I was always taught that no one eats until everyone is seated at the table."  Ichigo finished as Roshi rushed into the room.

"But you said you were going to eat..." Tee started as Ichigo returned from the kitchen with a raw beef roast which was still dripping some blood.  She casually held it out and then blasted it with a small Flare attack.

"There you go. One Ki blasted burnt offerings as requested."  Ichigo said after plopping the smoking roast on Tee's plate.

Almost everyone had a good laugh as they watched Tee choke down the charred roast that night.

* * *

That night Goshu made everyone use weights and work on their sprints and endurance.  Neither Ichigo nor Roshi enjoyed the night's workouts, but neither was willing to let anyone know how much they despised that type of training.

* * *

Slip couldn't sleep.  She spent most of the night looking across the room at the twisting and turning body of Ichigo.  Every once in a while, Ichigo would yell out or whimper or cry something in her sleep as she dreamed.

'How am I supposed to get any sleep with her here?'  Slip thought to herself.  'I don't even want to be here, but Nooo Mom thinks I can be sleeping beauty's friend.  So I have to be miserable in this stupid white nothing where I can barely even walk and my joints ache.'

Slip got up and got a drink of water.  'Not to mention what training with all these men is going to do to my figure.  Goshu actually made me eat until I was full.  I never eat that much!'

"Nooo...  I didn't fail... I'm not a failure... I'm not... I'm not"  Ichigo suddenly whimpered from her bed as she rolled about.

"I'm not a failure."  Slip mocked Ichigo's voice from her bed as she crawled back under the covers.  'Nice to know miss perfect isn't so perfect after all.'  She thought to herself as she rolled over and tried to ignore Ichigo.

By the end of the night Slip's earlier anger and resentment had started to crack.  It was only a start, but it was enough to let compassion start to claw it's way into her heart.

* * *

The following morning

Roshi stretched out as he walked deeper into the room.  The night had caused the room to become quite cool and Roshi had to be careful not to slip on the ice that now blanketed the floor and grew into great spires at places.  The frost forming in his breath had at first been a nice curiosity since Roshi had never really experienced much cold weather in his life, but was now beginning to become an annoyance as he felt his eyelashes trying to freeze together as they collected the fine frozen mist.

"About time you showed up."  Ichigo said from where she was sitting on an ice spire.

Roshi stopped to look up at her.  She wore a pair of gray earmuffs and what he had come to think of her normal gray and gray-blue gi.

"Aren't you cold?"  Roshi asked seeing she had not donned any insulating clothing over her gi.  He on the other hand wore a bright green polar fleece jacket over his Green and black gi.  He was warm, but looking down at his temporary gi, he realized that he still didn't feel comfortable in anything but his normal orange and blue colors.  'Oh well, as long as the news people are looking for someone in orange I will wear black and green.'

Ichigo jumped down from where she had been sitting.  "I wouldn't be if you had been on time, and I won't be once we start training, so you need more stretching or are you ready?"  She said while grinning like a shark.

"You seem a bit too happy for my tastes, but I am ready."  Roshi said as he launched himself into the air and away from her.

"Oh you think so do you.  Ichigo said as she sped towards him and flipped around to kick him.  Roshi blocked and then traded blows with her for several minutes.

"You're holding back."  Ichigo said as she fired a large Plasma beam at Roshi.

Roshi countered it with a trusty Kamehameha and then caught her leg and whipped her into an ice spire.  "What do you mean holding back?"  He shouted down at her.

"BLAZE!!!!"  Ichigo shouted from within the crumbling ice.  The heat of the attack flash boiled much of the ice throwing a large cloud of rapidly cooling vapor at Roshi.

The cooling vapor froze to Roshi on contact and for a few moments he looked like a big floating snowman.

Then Ichigo kicked him in the side with a roundhouse kick and sent him sprawling into the icy ground.  Roshi landed and tried to flip himself over but slipped on the ice to land flat on his face.

Ichigo started laughing as she landed next to him and punted him like a football.  "You know on Saiya we teach children how to walk on ice before they even know how to fly."

Roshi threw a huge chunk of ice at her.  "Well this is not Saiya!"  He yelled as he fired several ki blasts at the backside of the ice chunk.

Ichigo jumped up and kicked the ice chunk sending pieces of it careening around the icy room.  She then flipped over the ki blasts and landed in front of Roshi.

"If that is the best you can do I should just go back to Saiya now."  She spat into his face.

 'You don't want to see my best,' Roshi thought to himself as he created several double images of himself and then swept her legs out from beneath her.

Ichigo went with the fall and fired two small ki blast with her hands to propel herself around to face Roshi again.

"Oh, so you knocked me down.  A real warrior would have followed that up with a real attack.  You are too kind to follow through.  Kindness will get you killed when the Changelings show up."  Ichigo spat as she circled around him.

Roshi just watched her until she was at the edge of his vision and then he spun himself around snapping his right foot up to catch her in the small of the back.

Except Ichigo's back wasn't there anymore as she had dropped to the ground and ducked under the kick.  Before Roshi got his foot all the way around and back down again Ichigo had planted her foot lightly into his groin.

'Shit that could have hurt!' Roshi thought as he flipped away from her and landed on an ice spire.

"Are you going to start fighting me seriously or am I going to actually have to hurt you today?"  She quipped smugly.

'Down here on and near this ice she seems to be right at home.  I don't want to totally humiliate her, but she's starting to ask for it.'  Roshi thought as he glared down at her.  "You want to try to put something behind those words?  Then come and get me."  Roshi shot at her as he once again took to the air.

* * *

"They've been fighting for hours."  Boxers said as he watched the Roshi and Ichigo dart back and forth over the expanse of the Room of Spirit and time.

"Three hours twenty nine minutes and ten seconds to be exact."  Slip stated as she once again checked her watch.  "How the heck can they keep fighting at that rate for so long?"

"They aren't, but you guys shouldn't worry about that.  Back to work on your meditation."  Goshu said as he too wondered how they were keeping up such a display.  'Neither of them is fighting a nearly their maximum strength, but to fight for so long is still impressive.'

"Dende, Piccolo, I am going to go get closer to those two's fight.  Could you pick up with these three where I left off?"

"Certainly.  Yoshi is already over there watching them if you would send him back I am sure he could use some meditation as well."  Dende said as he walked over to look down at Slip.   

Slip realizing that there was a shadow over her cringed inwardly.

Dende just smiled remembering days long past when the ancestors of these people, his friends whom he had come to know as family had also spent time coming together as an effective fighting team.  "Ah the good old days.  How I miss them.  Alright dear child what you need to do..."

* * *

Ichigo blocked another one of Roshi's feeble hits and tried to kick him away from her but was in turn blocked.  'Damn him!  He won't actually fight me, but then he blocks my every attack.'

"Fight me you stupid jerk.  I'm growing tired of these half hearted attacks."

"Sorry, but we are here to train not beat each other into pulp."  Roshi replied as he blocked another of her kicks and then wrenched her foot around.  He could have broken her ankle but instead just tossed her to the side.

"DAMN you would you stop this nonsense and fight me you coward!"  Ichigo swore as she tried to land a roundhouse kick in his ear.

Roshi jabbed his hand straight fingered into her left armpit causing her entire left arm to go numb for a few moments.

"Anyone ever tell you that you drop your guard on your left side when you are mad?"

Ichigo felt her entire body go tense when Roshi said that.  In a flash of a memory she was no longer fighting Roshi but instead fighting Meron in her private dogo.

"I DO NOT LEAVE MY LEFT SIDE OPEN!!!!!!!!"  She screamed as she whipped around and caught Roshi in the back of his thigh with a powerful kick.

Roshi bent down to rub his leg for a moment and then looked up to see her charging at him again.

Within an eye blink he had landed two open palmed punches and a kick to her ribs on her left side.  "Yes you do."

* * *

Roshi watched curiously at the sudden change in not only mood, but the very look in Ichigo's eyes after he started hitting her left side.  'Ichigo is right arm and right leg dominant.'  Roshi realized with a start as he once again blocked several punches and kicks only to kick her in her left hip.

Most people who were right handed were left foot dominant.  Since that balanced people out they did not end up with a strong side or week side.  Ichigo on the other hand had probably subconsciously come to rely on her right side more then her left and it left her almost completely open at times.

'Well she wants me to beat on her.  She must like pain or something.  I hope she likes getting what she asks for.'

Roshi was about to hit her in the left side again when she caught him with strong upper cut to the jaw.  At least one of his teeth split as his head snapped back and he saw stars.

"I thought I told you to stop going easy on me!"  Ichigo screamed as she slammed her knee deep into Roshi's stomach.

Roshi had not been expecting the sudden tenacity in which Ichigo now attacked him and was caught off guard.  As blood seeped past his lips and he struggled to breath he didn't even have the time to react when Ichigo sent several roundhouses into his face snapping his head back and forth like a ping pong ball.

Nor did he block when she drove her knee into his left shoulder from behind, breaking his shoulder blade and dislocating his collarbone.

After what felt like years but lasted only mere seconds Ichigo threw him onto his back and glared into his barely focusing eyes.  "You want to play around jerk?  My people depend on me to save them.  Remember that.  I will stop at nothing to do my duty.  You may find this to be nothing but some simple training, but to me this is everything.  Toy with me again and I will kill you."  Ichigo spat down at him before walking away.

* * *

Several weeks later in the Room of Spirit and time.

Ichigo watched as Roshi floated out to spar with her.  Things were not going well between them.  Roshi had taken her words to heart and had done nothing but beat her down for the past five weeks.  Had Dende not been there she knew she probably would have died several time and been crippled for life just as many more.

While this had made her stronger Roshi had not grown any weaker.  He was still stronger then her and since she wasn't about to be the first to apologize.

Of course beating on him that second day had not been the straw that broke the back of trust between them.  No that had been when Ichigo had told him to "Go fuck the little worthless sprite of a girl who had been fawning after him."

'Roshi hadn't taken the notion that his cowardly blood would mix well with... Mariah? Was that her name?  Mariah's weakling blood very well.'  Ichigo winced at the memory of that beating.

Roshi walked up and looked at her blankly.  "Well I guess we should get this over with."  He said neutrally.

"Your mind is elsewhere right now."  Ichigo said speaking her mind as she realized Roshi wasn't acting normal.  He wasn't even acting normal for what was normal as of late.

"Yeah, well it's seven o'clock so you can pardon me if I have my head in the clouds."  Roshi said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Um, I hate to argue here but it is four in the afternoon."  Ichigo said back.

Roshi glared at her.  "Not here nitwit.  Outside it is Seven PM.  I should be on a date right now, not trading conversation with a an arrogant bitch like you."

'This is interesting...  I never did learn what a date really was but he seems... detached.'  Ichigo thought as she pondered what she should do.  "Are you talking about one of your courtship ritual things?"

Roshi actually laughed.  "It is hardly courtship, but yes that is what I am referring to.  Of course as you pointed out all those weeks ago you had an arranged fiancée who died so I should pity you rather then myself right?"

Ichigo was stung by his spite.  "I neither asked for nor want your pity."

"Funny, you seem to want it most of the rest of the time."

"Well I don't.  Who if I may ask was this date with?"

Roshi glared at her.  "As if you don't know, you venomous wench."

"It was a simple question."

"My date was with Mariah.  You know her, the weakling sprite of a girl."

'Ahh... this explains a lot.'  Ichigo surmised.  'Saiyan mating instinct is very very strong.  If he for some reason actually attached to her then he would take anything I said that was offensive towards her very personally.'  Ichigo shivered, 'had I known he could become attached to someone so terribly unworthy of a warrior of his talent I would have watched my tongue.  I need to remember how differently his culture is from mine.  Something that would never be allowed on Saiya is perfectly normal here.'  Ichigo shuddered at the thought.

"What's your problem?"

"Nothing just thinking.  I am sorry you have missed out on your date.  A warrior of your ability deserves some happiness." Ichigo said diplomatically, 'even if it is with someone I find disgustingly unworthy of you.'

Roshi's jaw almost fell off.  "What?  No snide remarks?  No crude comments?  No slams?  And here Tee thought you were jelous.

"Jelous?  Jelous of what?"

"You know what I mean."  Roshi said.

'I'm NOT jelous!'  Ichigo told herself as soon as she realized what he was implying.  "Listen to me now because I won't repeat myself.  Whether you people acknowledge me or not, I am the Crown Princess.  You are a Descendant of the very men and women who tried to destroy our people.  Even if there was the remotest possibility that there was or would ever be anything between us it won't happen.  If you were the last Saiyan alive I would kill myself before I would lay with you.  I am not jelous."

Roshi's eyes narrowed.  "Nice to know you think so highly of the people who are going to save your ass."

"Oh, I respect you and I value your abilities.  I would have even been proud to think of you as a friend, but anything more then that just cannot be allowed so I won't even think on it."

Roshi stood silent for several minutes.  "If that is so, what is your problem with Mariah?"

'Well I have already told him more then enough to give him every reason to kill me...'  Ichigo thought as she swallowed and then spoke, "I don't have a problem with her.  I have a problem with the very idea that someone so weak would have caught the eye of someone as powerful as you.  The very idea is morally disgusting and repulsive to me.  That is my problem."

"Amazing."

"What?"

"Honesty.  Of all the things I expected you to spout, honesty was not one of them."

"Well sorry If I disappointed you."  Ichigo said back puzzled.

"And here I was all ready to beat you to a pulp today.  I guess I'm not in the mood anymore."  Roshi said as he turned to walk away from her.

"HEY!  You can't just walk away.  We need to train.  You know I'm getting no where with my Kaioken training.  I need this!"  Ichigo said as she ran up behind him.

Roshi turned and looked at her emotionlessly.  "You want to fight?"

"Yes."  Ichigo replied from a few meters away.

"Ok, I guess, I've been meaning to try out a new attack.  Can't try it out if we don't fight."  Roshi said with an odd glint in his eyes.

'A new attack?  I don't think I like the sounds of that.'  Ichigo thought as she backed away from Roshi a bit.  "What does it do?"

Roshi smirked.  Well, I'll tell you what.  You stand right there and I'll show you."  He said as he brought his hands up from his sides.  In each of his cupped hands a bright ball of ki spun.  Lightning crackled between the red ball in his left hand and the blue ball in his right.

Ichigo took to the air to back away from him just as he leapt at her.  

"THUNDERFLASH!!  Roshi yelled as he slammed his hands together mere cm from her face.  As he clam shelled his hands open a brilliantly bright flash of light hit Ichigo in the face.

* * *

Roshi felt the balls of Ki trying to spring from his hands and converge as he brought his hands up towards Ichigo's face.  The two balls of ki finally touched and exploded as they mixed.  The brilliant flash was several times brighter then a Tayoken, and unlike the Solar Flare it also produced a thunderous shockwave.

The shockwave almost knocked him back but he held his position as Ichigo cart wheeled backwards to slam into the floor.

Blood pulsed from her ruptured eardrums as she frantically tried to get to her feet but then fell over again from lack of balance.

"AH... AH... AHH... I CAN'T SEE!!! I... I... OH HELP I CAN'T HEAR ANTHING!...AH  ROSHI NO DON'T KILL ME...  ROSHI?  ROSHI?!?!?!!"  Ichigo wailed from the ground as she curled herself into a fetal position and covered her bleeding ears with her hands. 

Roshi's earlier anger suddenly forgotten he rushed down to her.  When she yelped like a frightened dog and flailed about desperately at his touch he  quickly backed away.  "What have I done?  That shouldn't have affected her like this!"  Roshi asked himself aghast at what he saw.

Ichigo's flailing struggles stopped as she drifted into unconsciousness.  Roshi fearing he really had killed her scooped her up and rushed to find Dende.

* * *

Several Months into training in the Room of Spirit and time.

Ichigo still had not mastered the Kaioken.  She was too impatient.  Nothing Roshi or anyone else could do seemed to help her master the difficult skill.

Her frustrations were usually vented on Roshi and he was getting used to being her punching bag.  While things between them had definitely gotten better since the Thunderflash incident, there was still something keeping them from fully trusting each other.  Without that trust they would never be as effective fighting together as Goshu had hoped they would become.  So he kept the two of them sparing.  They would spar and talk and spar and talk and spar and taunt each other but while they were nothing if not efficient they were both to stubborn to give in and truly open up.

Dende finally decided that Goshu needed more then just his advice if they were ever going to get Roshi and Ichigo to cooperate fully.  So he set a plan in motion.

As it happened, however, Dende's plan wasn't needed.

One morning Ichigo was jubilant about something as she hauled him out of his bed to spar with her.

"It's five in the morning Ichigo.  I need my sleep."  Roshi mumbled as he followed her out of the house.

"Ichigo looked at him as he stumbled about in his flannel pjs.  "No you silly man, you need to go get your Gi on.  I have a new attack to show you."

This woke Roshi up immediately.  "This won't be anything like the last new attack one of us showed the other will it?

"Nope, this attack is even better!"  Ichigo chirped.

Roshi's eyebrows shot up.  "ok, who the heck are you and what have you done with Ichigo?"

Ichigo's shoulders slouched.  "Roshi, I'm serious now get your butt in there and get into your gi or I will just make you fight me in your pjs and since we both know that fights between us can get rather heated I would much rather not have you wearing something that is both flammable and likely to be shredded and lost while you fight me."

"Ok, but stop being so happy.  You happy bugs me."  Roshi said as he turned around to walk into the capsule house.  'Bugs me?  She's acting like someone drugged her or something.  Women and their mood swings.  First Slip starts acting all funny and now this.  Next thing I know the two of them will stop bitching at each other and gang up on me.'  Roshi shuddered to the base of his soul.  "please Dende don't let them do that."

Roshi finished dressing and flew out to where Ichigo was waiting for him.

"Ok, what is this new super attack you have to show me?"

"You want me to just show it to you and then that's it?  No warm ups or anything?"  

"Sure, If I can beat it then we might be able to work on just this new attack for a while."

Ichigo crinkled her nose and sucked on her lip or a moment.  "Well it isn't really an attack but I guess."

"What is it then?"  Roshi pondered.

"I'll tell you in a bit."  Ichigo said as she took to the air.

Roshi followed and they were soon floating about half a km above the floor.

"Ok, now what?"  Roshi asked.

"Now you fire your biggest non-Kaioken Kamehameha at me."

"Non-Kaioken?"  

Ichigo shrugged.  "I don't think I can stop you when you are at full power."

"Ah, ok. Well this still won't be easy for you."  Roshi said as he backed up about 200 meters from her to give her some time to react.  He didn't want to accidentally kill her if whatever she had planned failed.

Roshi saw her start to charge what looked like the start of the Plasma Beam attack.  As the pink energy crackled around her he charged and then fired off his Kamehameha.

"STOPPER BEAM!!!"  Ichigo yelled as she fired off her pink-red beam.

'Stopper beam?  I'm going to have to pick on her for not being able to come up with a real name to this thing.'  Roshi thought as his Kamehameha slammed into the pinkish red beam.

Roshi expected his Kamehameha to absorb Ichigo's beam like his larger and more powerful attacks had done many times before.  His beam was several times larger and unlike her personal version of the Kamehameha her "Stopper Beam" was not fired as a drill beam so it would not drill through his own beam.

The two beams touched and exploded.  Literally exploded.  A ball of light at the epicenter of the two beams almost blinded Roshi.  Then the flash of billowing exploding light started tracing its way down his Kamehameha.  Roshi had seen fire travel back along a line of oil or other fuel and that was about the only thing that came to mind as his Kamehameha exploded backwards towards him.  He forced himself to push more power into the beam to push the explosion away, but that only seemed to speed it up.

As the energy that was traveling back along his Kamehameha reached him, Roshi felt as though the very energy that he was putting into the beam had been sucked out of him.  Suddenly he couldn't keep the beam cohesive any longer and it simply ceased to be.

Roshi looked across the clearing smoke at Ichigo.  She was beaming from ear to ear.  "What was that?  How did you do that?"  he asked awed at what he had just seen.

"That is what is going to make your Kamehameha nothing but a flashy light show."  Ichigo said as she started to laugh.

"Well I'll be..." Roshi started to say but stopped suddenly.

Ichigo had still been laughing when her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell out of the air.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, I hope you like long chapters!

I dedicate this chapter to all of you readers.  You waited a long time to see some training...  I hope the wait was worth it.

On that wait, I think I should explain myself some.  I have no intention of abandoning this before I finish it.  This is my first story and I will finish it or die trying.  That said, I might be getting a professional book published.  I have submitted a story to several publishers and one of them was nice enough to ask for me to "flesh" out a few of my chapters and ideas better.  I had a real deadline and was busy writing that story and trying to maintain my college education.  I am sorry to say that between a story that I might get paid for writing and my education this fic which I write only for my personal enjoyment and your enjoyment as a reader gets third dibs.

Thank you all for your patience, encouragement and support.  Without your kind words I would have never even attempted to submit a novel for publishing.

To those of you who have asked me to review your work, keep asking I will try.  To everyone else who writes or even those who just read.  Keep your dreams alive.  They will take you places you could otherwise never get to on this world.

That said I will respectfully ask you to kindly support some other fellow authors.

First Kitsune Maxwell.  She is a good friend and is far better then she will ever admit.  Please share some kind words to help encourage her to keep working.

http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=129268

Secondly, Josav.    She is a fellow author who like me has had her fair share of adversity.  Her computer recently crapped out and she has lost most of her works.  Also on a more dire note, She is overcoming Meningitis and for that we should all be thankful for her work is second to none.

http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=216859

Her Fic Chikura: desolation and despair is now just being reposted.  It is the only long fic I have read on FF.net that even comes close to or possibly exceeds my fic for depth.  Please spend the time to review it.

http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1012681 

Thank you, and until next time, happy reading. :)

Oh, ps this was not edited by anyone so I am sorry if the grammar sucks... If you find any glaring errors please tell me about them.


	36. Falling

Chapter 36

Falling

4 1/2 months into training in the ROSAT

"That is what is going to make your Kamehameha nothing but a flashy light show." Ichigo said as she started to laugh.

'Flashy light show my left foot!  Just cause she stopped it once doesn't mean she can do it again.'  Roshi thought instantly as his anger built.  Then just as quickly he realized her attack might be beneficial.  "Well I'll be..." Roshi started to say but stopped suddenly. 

Ichigo had still been laughing when her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell out of the air.

'What the?  I can't feel her ki'  Roshi thought as he quickly dove and caught her before she fell all the way to the floor of the ROSAT.

Upon landing, Roshi set her down and patted her on the cheek.  Her skin was cold.

"Ichigo, wake up this isn't funny."  Roshi said not really thinking about what he was really saying.

Fearing that she might actually be dead or something, he placed a finger on her neck and waited for a pulse.

*beat*................................*beat*

Slow and ever so faint her blood still pulsed.

Roshi closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could.  "She has no ki.  None at all...  This is not good."  He realized with a start before he scooped her up and rushed back to find Dende.

* * *

Dende slowly shook his head as he stood up and looked at Roshi.  "I can't help her, she isn't injured."

"What do you mean she isn't injured?  She has no ki, she is hardly breathing, her heart is barely beating, and she is unconscious.  How can she not be injured?"

"Because she isn't.  I can't give a person energy.  I can only repair their injuries.  I don't know why she is unconscious but it is not from an injury."

"Roshi, could you please calm down and tell us what happened?"  Goshu said as he walked up to Ichigo's bed.

Roshi turned to watch as Goshu walked up and placed two fingers directly on Ichigo's sternum above her heart and two fingers in the center of her forehead.

"What are you doing?"

Goshu stepped back and said a few words to Dende and then Dende spoke up.

"Roshi, ki is the energy of life.  It is the connection between the Mind, the Soul, and the Body.  The heart is the center of the body, and the brain the center of the mind, Goshu was just trying to find her ki."

"And?"  Roshi asked rather perturbed that he hadn't thought of that.

"And she has ki, all living things do, it is just almost completely surprised for some reason."  Goshu said.  "Now would you tell us what happened?"

Roshi took a deep breath and told them what he could.

* * *

Four days later in the Room of Spirit and Time.

Roshi sat and watched, and listened.

Only the ever so slow rise and fall of her chest and murmur of breathing indicated she was still alive.  Even now, four days after the fact, Ichigo was only producing the ki of say, an ant.

"You're falling for her aren't you."  Slip said as she walked up behind Roshi and scared him right out of his chair.

He quickly jumped up and looked at Slip.  "Damn it don't do that, you scared the heck out of me!"

Slip cocked an eyebrow at him and stifled a laugh.  "You really are falling for her!"

"I am NOT!"  Roshi snapped back.  'Falling for HER?!?!  Ludicrous!'

"Oh really?  Then why were you so deep in thought that a heavy metal band could have snuck up on you?"  Slip said, grinning like a shark.

"I'm just worried.  I mean, the Senzu bean didn't even work.  I don't like mysteries overly much and this whole thing just bugs me."  Roshi replied.

"Well, moping about it isn't going to help any anyways, so why don't you come spar with me for a while.  It will get your mind off of her."

Roshi looked over at Slip like he was seeing things.  "Wait, wait, wait, did I just here you ask to spar with me?"

"Yes, what… you think you're to good to spar with the likes of lowly little me?"  Slip replied faking a hurt look in her eyes.

"No, it's just that you've always found an excuse to get out of actually training with me all the times my dad has tried to get you to fight me."  Roshi said, looking rather smug.

"Err, well, um, you see, Boxers and Tee are working on the fusion dance and I really don't like working with your father.  He has a way of making me feel like an idiot just by being near him."

Roshi laughed, "he does that to you too?  I thought I was the only one with an inferiority complex called Goshu."

Slip shook her head.  "You know what I hate the most about her?"  Slip said while pointing at Ichigo.

"What, other than the fact she outsmarts you every time you get into a name calling contest, or the fact that Tee and Boxers practically drool on her foot prints, or is it the fact that she isn't sorry about blowing up your lab, oh wait, I know, it's that she makes you feel guilty for even thinking about being morally corrupt and doing all kinds..."

"ROSHI!!! Would you stop already?!?  Sheesh!  Here I was going to say the thing I hate most about her was that since you have been spending so much time training with her I've missed hanging out and goofing off with you, but I guess that was just something I ate giving my crazy notions!"

"Yeah, must be something you ate, Tee did the cooking this noon and I don't...  Wait a minute!"  Roshi looked at her incredulously, "you were going to say you missed hanging with me?  Since when did the high and mighty Slip need to hang out with me?"

"Roshi! Please don't pull that bull with me.  You know as well as I do that outside my lab, I have no life.  I mean, with my parents always being so busy I practically grew up at your place.  I mean, really, other than you and Boxers, and Tee I really don't have any real friends unlike you.  Of course I miss hanging out and stuff."

"What do you mean, unlike me?  You have friends."

"Not like real friends.  I mean, sure I hang with people, but we never really do anything.  You go camping and do stuff with Kit, Carge, Niko, and Mariah.  Anyway, and now you are spending all your time training and arguing, and fighting with her that you don't even seem to be paying any of the rest of us any mind.  When was the last time you actually sparred with even Tee or Boxers?" Slip said while Jabbing him in the ribs.

"Hey now! That tickles none of that!"  Roshi said while quickly slapping her hand away.  "I don't know, it's been at least a week since I did stuff with either of them."

"Like I said, you are just a bit too occupied with sleeping beauty over here."  Slip winked, "I don't know about you, but she seems a bit more feisty then what I would have pictured you with."

Roshi shook his head looked from Ichigo to Slip and then grabbed Slip and hauled her out the door.  "For the last time I am NOT falling for her.  It would never work in a million years and she is too whatever for me!  Besides, as soon as we get out of here I am going to patch things up with Mariah cause I should be on a date with her RIGHT now in the real world so just drop this cause it isn't funny in the least!"

"Ok!  Sheesh, break my arm would you!"  Slip whined indignantly while rubbing her arm.  "I was only teasing."

"Well it wasn't funny."  Roshi said back.  'And it wasn't.  I'm not falling for her.  I'm not.  Ichigo is too prideful and too recluse and too arrogant.  I'm just worried.  I don't know what is wrong and the fact that she was acting so strangely that morning is really bugging me.  She was acting nice and she hasn't acted nice since the night after Banana showed up and she had like stress amnesia or something...  And she isn't Mariah.  Mariah is so care free and happy and composed and kind and sweet and innocent.'

"ROSHI IF YOU DON'T STOP DAYDREAMING I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A WEDGIE!!!!"  Slip suddenly screamed into his ear.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about Mariah."  Roshi replied quickly.

"BULL CRAP don't even try to lie to me Roshi.  You were comparing Mariah to Ichigo!!  HA... you're questioning yourself which means you ARE falling for her!  I told..."  Slip trailed off when she saw the look on Roshi's face.  "Um I mean to say um so you were thinking about Mariah, I hear you had a really nice date um I guess it would be last Friday now um, care to tell?"

Roshi rolled his eyes.  "We had a date... look I'm not good with this sort of thing and I really don't need you going all gooie on me so can we just spar now?"

"Ohhh all gooie?  I just have to hear, now.  So start at the start, you guys went out to eat right?  Where did you go?"

"Ack Slip, not now!"

"Now, now or when we get out of here I will go to the tabloids with that picture I have of you and Mariah in the park."

Roshi's jaw dropped.  "You were spying on me?  Why?"

"Actually no, I wasn't but this camera guy came up to me and started pestering me about you and the Mystery girl when I was in the Mall on Saturday.  So I lead him to a private location and paid him a huge excessive amount of money for his film."

"Too bad you didn't break his leg too.  The media have been hounding Kit and Mariah and probably Carge since after the fight with those creeps and then my scene in the Mall with Ima only made it worse."

"I know, but anyway no deflecting the conversation, you were just going to tell me about your date."  Slip said as she leaned against his shoulder and gazed up into his eyes with her "sweet little girl" look.

"Gah, don't do that!"  Roshi said as he pushed her away.  "Ok, you win, I'll tell now just stop being a pest."

"Me?  Stop being a pest?"  Slip shook her head.  "I'd have to be in there like her for that to happen."  She said with a smirk.

"Tell me about it."

"HEY!!! WHY YOU... wait, that almost worked... No more stalling out with the date story."

Roshi could be heard muttering "shucks" under his breath before he lead Slip into the dinner hall to talk.  "Ok, what do you want to know?"

Slip got this far away look in her eyes.  "Everything.  I want to know every little detail."

"Women...  Ok, we were celebrating the fact that Mariah's mother had sold a good portion of her better art and Mariah felt she needed to spend some money, so she was paying.  Since she wouldn't hear of even the slightest notion of me helping to pay, I suggested we go eat at the Range."

"Oh, Friday night, how many steaks did you end up eating?"

Roshi rolled his eyes, The Range was an all you can eat Steak house.  It also had a really large buffet and was a regular place for Roshi and the gang to go eat when Roshi didn't want to have reporters all over him.  "I only ate like twenty or so."

"Only, you only ate twenty or so.  You know if we didn't supply that place with beef at such a huge discount we would have eaten them out of business ages ago."  Slip laughed, "So you guys ate at The Range, then what?  And did you do anything romantic?"

More rolling of eyes, "Mariah and I shared a cheesecake cause she didn't want to eat the whole thing."

"Ahhh that's soooo sweet.  So what movie did you guys go to?" Slip pried once again giving the "sweet little girl" look.

"Niko and Mariah picked it out.  It was called... um... One simple Kiss or something."

"OOOOOHHHHHHH A Simple Kiss!!!  I love that movie it is so sweet!  How did you like the part where Hanz finally admitted to Janelle that he loved her?  Oh that was one of the sweetest kisses I have ever seen in my life."

'What is with women and romance movies?  Ok ok, it was good, but I would rather be kissing Mariah or someone rather then watching two actors kiss...  Why do girls get so mushy over SEEING other people make out?  It's sick!'  Roshi looked at Slip, "Ah yeah it was um... nice."

"Nice?  Nice?  Roshi you have got to be the most clueless person I have ever met!  How could you have watched that movie and just say it was nice?"

"Ah, cause I'm a GUY!"

"Oh, yeah, that's right, for a moment there I had forgotten that it is un-masculine to show emotion.  You know if you would just admit your feelings you could turn Mariah into a pile of goo at your feet?"

Roshi gave Slip one of those looks... "What's with the sudden shift in attack?  So you dropped the Ichigo thing and now you are trying to hook me up with Mariah?"

"Well, since I can't pester you about Princess bitchy, I might as well pester you about Mariah.  Besides you two are so cute together.  You should see those pictures of the two of you in the park!"

"Yes, those pictures, I would like to see them, I would also like to see them not in your possession, but I doubt that will ever happen."

"Nope!"  Slip laughed, "so then tell me about the park. The pics have times on them and you two were there for four hours!  What where you doing?"

"Talking.  We were just talking.  Mariah told me things and I told her things.  Hindsight being what it is I should have told her more things, but as the camera guy shows that wasn't as private as I would have liked to have been."

"Oh, come on what kinds of things?"

"Nope, not getting any more from me.  If you want it you have to beat me in a spar.  Since that WAS what you wanted to do in the first place."

"A spar?  But I don't... Oh alright let's go.  Just don't go to hard on me I'm not very good."  Slip acquiesced.

As most fights with Slip would be, this one was rather dull and Roshi mostly blocked every thing she sent at him.

After about twenty minutes of blocking, Roshi twisted away from one of Slip's punches and kicked her in the right hip.

"Ouch!  That hurt! You can't fight like that with me! I'm not Princess Butch!"

Roshi smirked, "I know, that kick wouldn't have even gotten close to Ichigo.  Tell you what, I think it is time we turn it up a notch."

Slip's eyes got about as big as saucers.  "I don't think so.  If you want your punching bag you can go pick on Tee and Boxers."

"Nah, I think you need some work. KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!!!"  Roshi charged a tiny Kamehameha and sent it out to chase after Slip.

"AHHHH ROSHI IS TRYING TO KILL ME AHHHH!"  Slip yelled as she flailed about in the air and ended up knocking the underpowered Kamehameha away.

"See that's not so hard.  Do it again!"  Roshi laughed as he sent several more ki blasts at Slip.

"Roshi this isn't funny I don't wanna fight anymore!!!"

"What was that?  Make my attacks bigger?  Ok!"  Roshi said as he started charging a Masenko.

"ROSHI!!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  Slip made it halfway back to the Dome houses before the Masenko smacked her and sent her crashing into the ground.

"Roshi you are just mean.  You are cruel and you are a jerk, and you suck."  Slip said when Roshi landed nearby to help her up.

"I know, but you need to actually start training for real now.  Yoshi and my dad have taught you sparring well, and you're stronger than either Tee or Boxers were when we started, but you really need to learn how to fight."  Roshi replied while he dusted off the back of her charred but not damaged gi.

"Right, well right now all I need is a good nap.  At least She won't be making noise to keep me awake."

Roshi looked at Slip curiosity peaking.  "What do you mean by she won't be making noise to keep you awake?"

"Oh, nothing."  Slip said, quickly turning away and heading towards the house she shared with Ichigo.

"Oh nothing, my rear end, now spill it."  Roshi said as he shot ahead of her and blocked her way.

Slip shrugged and then gave in.  "Ichigo has nightmares.  Please don't tell her I told you I think she'll kill me.  You know how she reacts to anything that makes her seem weak."  Slip pleaded.

"Hold it, what do you mean by nightmares, and yes I know first hand what her temper can be like she rather disliked my pointing out she has weak defense on her left side, but I think I've cured some of that by now.  If she ever wakes from that trance she's in."  Roshi said getting a far away look in his eyes.

Slip waved her hand in front of Roshi's face.  "Roshi to the real world.  You there?"

"Huh, yeah, sorry, now what's this about her having nightmares?"

"I shouldn't be saying anything, but she has nightmares.  Almost every night.  She talks in her sleep but I really haven't been able to tell what it is she is saying.  Mostly I just get the impression that she is haunted by the fear of failure, but at the same time, more than that.  I don't know. It is hard to explain."

Roshi looked at her incredulously.  "Ichigo's been having nightmares for the four and a half months we've been in here and you haven't told ANYONE?"

"Well I... No."

"Slip..."

"I KNOW, ok!  I messed up again.  Look, at first I was glad she had them cause it meant she wasn't as perfect as everyone else seemed to think she is, but now...  I don't know.  I hate to say it but I think if anything, she is more confused and scared than any of us have any clue as to guess at."

Roshi just looked at Slip for about half a minute.  "Your mother is a genius."

"What does my mother have to... oh!  Well you can stop right there.  I don't need her as a friend.  Besides, she's going home once we save the Earth from the Changeling she's leading to us."

"Slip, were you or were you not just complaining about not having any friends?  Maybe you should try to make some.  And Dende knows you could be more civil towards Ichigo."

"Look I'll try ok?  Right now, I just want a shower and a nap.  Is that ok with you?"

Roshi shrugged.  "I'm not the boss of you."

"Ha ha very funny!  Try and remember that comment now and then."  Slip said before slamming the door to the Capsule house in Roshi's face.

* * *

The next day

Roshi was in the middle of his morning katas when Boxers and Tee walked up.

"Hey Roshi, you want to have a real fight?"  Tee said while grinning like a, well, like he would normally when found grin in a candy store.

Roshi looked from Tee to Boxers and saw that he too was grinning like a child with a new toy.  "You know the last time someone came to me grinning like the two of you are, she ended up comatose."

Both Tee and Boxers sobered dramatically.  "Man you take all the fun out of life!"

"Sorry, just wanted to point out that you shouldn't be so confident.  Besides even if the two of you have mastered Fusion I'll still beat you."

Boxers looked over to Tee, "I think we need to beat some of that confidence out of him."

"Oh, I totally agree."  Tee replied, smirking at Roshi.

"Ok, fine, one thing first," Roshi said as he stretched out a calf muscle.  "Put the sword down.  If that sword is as strong as its legend says, I don't want to find myself on the wrong end of it."

Boxers laughed, but tossed the sword over towards one of the capsule houses.  "No problem man, to be honest I don't like fighting with the thing anyway, I keep worrying that I might ding it or something."

They all laughed and then Roshi waited for them to complete the Fusion dance, which went off flawlessly.  The two fused and a blonde and lavender skunk headed teen soon appeared.  The fusion gave off a brilliant turquoise aura that forced Roshi to back up a step.

"Hey Roshi, I'm Boxee and I'm going to kick your ass!"  The fusion declared.

'Hmmm, I would estimate that he is right about 1,250,000 now.  Kaioken times 5 aught to be enough to handle him,'  Roshi thought, "Don't get too cocky!  Kaaaaiiooooo-Keeennnnn timessssss Fiiivvveeee!"  Roshi yelled as he crossed his arms in front of his head and then whipped them to his sides.  A brilliant red aura flashed over the turquoise one and forced it back.

The two fighters stared at each other for a few moments, letting the energy between their auras dance and play.  Small bolts of lightning and fire shot off from them to sputter and die in the distance.

* * *

Over, near where they had been sparring, Goshu and Yoshi stopped to watch.  "This is going to be interesting."  Goshu said as he floated up to get a better view.

"Yeah, does Roshi know that those two can pull off the Kaio-ken while fused?"  Yoshi asked.

"I doubt it.  Which is why this is going to be very interesting.  None of us can push Roshi alone, I wonder how strong he's gotten."  Goshu said as he turned to see Slip, Piccolo, Dende, and Nail fly up.

"Kami," Goshu said as Dende flew up.  "You think this is a good time to let the randomness of the room start?"

Dende smiled, "Always like you to see a good way to make your student's lives more interesting.  It is done."  Dende replied.

Slip looked over at them.  "What's he talking about?"

Goshu smiled.  "Dende can control the randomness of the room to some degree.  He has been keeping the gravity constant and the temperatures regulated with day and night at my request.  Now however, I think it is time we allow the room to be completely random.  Neither Roshi nor Boxee will expect it and it should add something to this fight.

Slip cocked an eyebrow at Goshu,  "You are just cruel.  I like it!"

* * *

"Well, you wanted to fight, come and get me if you think you can."  Roshi said as he waved Boxee in to attack.

"You asked for it."  Boxee said as he charged zigging left and then zagging right several times before finally closing in to punch.

Roshi caught Boxee's right hand in his left and blocked Boxee's left handed jab before he delivered an uppercut to Boxee's jaw.

Boxee staggered back a bit before he swept Roshi's feet and kicked him in the small of the back.

Roshi flipped, and caught Boxee in the stomach with his knee while he boxed Boxee's ears slapping them both before he finally head butted him and jumped away.

"Damn it Roshi, that wasn't fair!  Since when do you fight so dirty?"

"Sorry, boxing your ears may have been a bit excessive, but Ichigo always tends to get one nasty jab like that in, every time we spar to remind me that the Changelings are not likely to fight fair.  I guess I just got used to it." 

"You have got to be kidding me!  She's the first one to bitch when we do something dishonorable!  And now you tell me she is the most dishonorable?!"  Boxee exclaimed while he blocked several of Roshi's attacks and then returned them.

"Actually no, to be honest my dad told her to do that anytime she thought I was forgetting how important this training was.  I guess she seems to think I have a bad memory."  Roshi replied while the two of them locked hands and attempted to kick each other mercilessly.

Boxee finally broke the hold and wrenched Roshi's right arm around, almost dislocating his elbow before Roshi pulled himself free.

"You're better than I thought.  I think I need to start getting serious."  Roshi replied before he started to charge a Kamehameha.

"Pish Posh, that isn't going to do much!" Boxee yelled as he started charging a Garlic Gun.

Roshi's massive blue beam struck Boxee's slightly smaller purple beam.  As the energy rolled and formed a boiling sphere in the epicenter of the two beams, Roshi's beam slowly but surely pushed Boxee's beam back.

* * *

"Holy SHIT!"  Slip yelled as she watched the two of them fight while wearing her scouter for which she had gone back to the Dome house to retrieve.  "Roshi just peaked at 1,500,000 again and Boxee's strength while it was dropping is climbing again.  It's over 1,300,000 now!"

"What an apt comment." Dende replied.  "I am surprised at the choice of attacks Boxee has chosen however.  Even Vegeta admitted that the Garlic Gun wasn't as useful as the Kamehameha.  He never used it again after being defeated by Goku.  As I recall the only thing it was better for was that it could be sustained longer, but that was probably more of a problem with the Kaioken than with the Kamehameha."

Yoshi turned and gave Dende an odd look.  "I thought you weren't Kami until right before Gohan kicked Cell's butt."

"I wasn't, but I have the memories of all the Kamis who have come before me, so I remember that fight."

"Oh"  Yoshi replied followed by, "If you have the memories of all those fights then what else can you tell us about these various attacks."

Dende smiled, "Oh, not so much as you would like I am afraid.  I am a healer, so even watching and knowing what I know about the forgotten attacks I do not understand them.  I can help with the Fusion dance only because it is not really an attack but more along the lines of a, well, the spiritual."

"What do you mean forgotten attacks?" Goshu asked suddenly more interested in the conversation than his son's fight.

"Well, there are several.  Mostly those attacks that Trunks brought back with him from the Mirai universe and then those things that Tien never taught anyone else.  Anyhow, no matter, those attacks that did survive will do well enough."  Dende said before pointing to Boxee and Roshi.

* * *

The temperature in the room was getting very hot.  Not only was it getting hot, it was getting hot very fast.  The air burned in his lungs as Roshi fought to find the stamina to keep his Kamehameha going.  Finally, he had to give up and jump clear as Boxee's Garlic Gun consumed his Kamehameha and then shot past where he had been standing.

"Where the heck did you learn that attack?"  Roshi asked while he pealed off the outer layer of his gi.

"We saw a video of the fight between Vegeta and Goku once, and besides, that attack is almost instinctive."  Boxee replied while he as well striped down to a vest.

"Hey Roshi, have you ever seen the movie _The Princess Bride_?" Boxee asked while both he and Roshi stretched out some.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"You know that scene where the two guys are on top of that cliff sword fighting and the one tells the other that he isn't actually left handed?"

"Yeah, what are you getting at?"  Roshi asked while feeling a deep seated dread fill him.  'If he tells me that he wasn't fighting at full power I'm going to kick both their asses when they are done with this."

"I hate to say this but I have a surprise for you.  KAIOKEN!!!"

Roshi felt his jaw drop as the turquoise aura turned violet then red.  'Thank Dende, only basic Kaioken.  He's only a bit below 2 million now using a scouter, I'm still stronger.'

"Try this attack on for size!   TWIN VIPER!!!"  Boxee yelled as he stuck brought his arms out and back before arcing them forward hands held at shoulder level with his pointer and middle finger on each hand, curved like a snake's teeth.

As Boxee brought his arms forward, a great sweeping arc of green ki scythed through the air at Roshi.

"OH CRA..."  Roshi screamed as he leapt into the air only to have Boxee sweep his arms up.  The two energy snakes caught Roshi and quickly coiled around him.

"GHAHH AHHHH HEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH"

Boxee laughed at Roshi's struggles.  "Fight it all you want Roshi.  It's and adaptation of the Galactic Donuts and the Energy Rings.  The more you fight the tighter they will get!"

"GAAAAHHHH You know, Anaconda is a far more fitting name than Viper for this!  Vipers don't constrict their prey!!"  Roshi yelled as he flopped around on the floor while trying to twist his way out of the coiling ki.

"Oh please, just cause you're losing you think you need to make fun of me."

"Who said anything about losing?  KAIOKEN TIMES SEEEEVVVENNNNNNN!!!"  Roshi yelled as a red wave of energy burst between the coils and seemed to eat away at them.  Roshi broke the coils and shot towards Boxee.

"TIMES TWOOO!!!"  Boxee screamed before he blocked Roshi's punch and then landed a solid hit to the center of Roshi's chest, which staggered him.

Roshi was thrown backwards and tumbled through the air as the fire they had been fighting in suddenly turned to ice.  Roshi crashed through an ice shard and landed on a sheet of ice.  He lost his balance and slid for several tens of meters before he came to a stop.

"That was cold."  Roshi mumbled to himself before he had to roll to the side to prevent Boxee's foot from compacting his rib cage.

Roshi scissored around and caught Boxee in the back of the knees which knocked him down.

Roshi quickly tried to kick him in the side while he was down but Boxee blocked and sent the two of them sliding across the icy floor.

* * *

Piccolo snorted and shook his head.  "They play.  They aren't even trying."

"Oh, no I would say that they are trying quite hard."  Dende replied.  "At least Roshi is."

"Are you certain?  Seems to me he is using the same strategy he did against Nail and I.  He is delaying and waiting for the Fusion to run out."

"Well this is only training Piccolo.  And whether you are right or not, it appears as though we have a fairly good gauge of how far Roshi can push himself right now."  Goshu replied.

"Do we?  I think he is holding back... No, I know he is holding back.  He isn't pushing himself.  Think about how he normally fights.  Even when outclassed or out numbered, Roshi is always on the offensive.  He tries to control the fight.  With the exception of being the first to try a beam attack everything he has done today has been defensive or retaliation."  Piccolo replied.  

* * *

Even as Piccolo was stating the same, the dualistic mind of Boxee came to the conclusion that Roshi wasn't fighting to form.

"Hey look! She's awake!"  He said as he pointed off towards where everyone was watching.

"Huh?"  Roshi said as he spun around to look.

'This is almost too easy.'  Boxee thought as he pounded Roshi hard over the kidneys.

Roshi fell to his knees and Boxee kicked him in the rear sending him trough some more rapidly melting ice spires.  By the time Roshi got back up, the ice was gone and the water was starting to evaporate as the room once again warmed.

Boxee then unceremoniously landed on his own rear as the gravity suddenly shifted while he was laughing at Roshi.

"You are really bad.  I can't believe you fell for that!" Boxee laughed as he got up and flew towards Roshi, who was now glaring in a tense stance.

"Guess I'm just too trusting."  Roshi replied not breaking his glare.

"That and you really have fallen for her like Slip says!" 

Had Boxee any sense of self preservation he would have noticed the look in Roshi's eyes.  As it was, he missed all the warning signs.

"For the last time I am not falling for Ichigo.  I love Mariah."  Roshi replied in a deadly calm manner.

"Right!! DENIAL!!"  Boxee laughed.

Then Roshi's right hook slammed into Boxee's jaw, followed by a left hook and another right.  Then a roundhouse kick to the head and an upper cut to the stomach.

Roshi then took the time to bend over and grab Boxee by the front of his tank top and overhand toss him into the air.

Roshi shook his head as the unconscious Boxee landed on his head.  "I did warn you."

* * *

"Um, that was quick."  Slip said as she pulled the smoking scouter from her face.

"I would say.  How high did it get before the thing broke?"  Yoshi asked.  

"Um, it broke just under three million."  Slip replied.

"Well, Piccolo, seems you were right.  I wonder what was said to piss him off so fast."  Goshu said.

Piccolo glanced towards the Capsule houses and then at Roshi who was patting the unconscious Boxee on the face trying to wake him.  

Dende placed his hand on Piccolo's shoulder.  "You will have to ask them."

Piccolo looked at his father and then looked over at Goshu, "yes, I heard some of what was said but it makes no sense so I may not have heard correctly."

Goshu looked from Dende to Piccolo to Nail.  "If you say so"

* * *

Later that day

Roshi was busy cooking for the evening meal when Ichigo finally woke.  She stumbled into the kitchen and stopped in her tracks when she saw Roshi.

"What happened?  I'm so hungry I think I could eat an entire Sartan by myself."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Roshi asked after he closed the oven door.  His roasts were cooking nicely and he had time to talk to Ichigo now.  

"We were fighting, this morning I guess, and my Stopper beam worked!  Your Kamehameha didn't do anything."  Ichigo smiled and then looked up.  "And then the next thing is I woke up in my bed all stiff like I had been there for days."

'Well she doesn't have any memory loss.  Here comes the tirade though.' Roshi thought before taking a deep breath.  "You had been there for days." 

Ichigo dropped the carrot she had started to devour.  "What do you mean I had been there for days?  Why don't I remember anything after my Stopper beam?"

Roshi shrugged.  "Um, because there is nothing after your stopper beam.  You passed out and were in some sort of coma.  Dende couldn't even heal you."

Ichigo's face reddened with anger for a few seconds before she walked over and glared into Roshi's face.  "You are singularly incapable of telling lies.  Now look me in the eyes and tell me how long I have been unconscious!"

Roshi looked down into her eyes and had to think about what she had actually said.  'I really hate that look in her eyes.  They remind me of nasty thunderstorms when she is mad.'  Roshi though before responding, "ah, you were out about five days."

"Why are you trying to look away?  Are you lying?"

"No, he's just nervous because of all the grief we've given him for watching over you as you slept the last few days."  Slip said from the door.

Ichigo got very red in the face very fast and grabbed Roshi by the throat.  "WHAT?! You watched me sleep?!"

"You were in a coma, I was worried!"

"Pervert!"  Ichigo yelled before she practically fainted, which caused her to stumble and fall into Roshi.

Roshi caught her and helped her to a chair.  

Ichigo however didn't like being helped and shoved him away.  "Don't touch me, I don't need your help!"  She scolded before collapsing in the chair.  She leaned forward and started rubbing her temples.  "I need food."

Roshi quickly grabbed as much rice as he could grab from the never ending supply the ROSAT had and deposited it with some left over noodles, vegetables, and meat from the noon meal.

"Thank you."  Ichigo managed to say before she dug in and devoured the entire bushel's worth of rice in a matter of seconds.

By this time everyone else had sensed Ichigo was awake and were arriving.

"Good, you're eating, Roshi was starting to get worried we would have to IV you if you didn't wake up."  Goshu said as he walked around to sit across the table from where Ichigo was.

"I wasn't the only one!"  Roshi said quickly as Ichigo whipped her head around to glare at him.

Dende walked up and stood near Goshu.  "Dear child, could you please tell us about your attack that rendered Roshi's Kamehameha useless?"

Ichigo glared at him.  "Old man how many times do I have to tell you not to call me child?  And the only person who has ever called me dear anything is my mother.  She's dead."

"All the more reason why someone should call you dear.  Now Ichigo, dear child, would you please tell us about that attack, it may help us to figure out what happened to you and why you were unconscious for so long."

Ichigo glared at him.  "I don't know why you think my attack had anything to do with it.  It doesn't even use that much energy."

"It sure stopped a fairly large Kamehameha in its tracks though."  Roshi said from the stove's were he was busy making the gravy for the potatoes he had cooking.

Ichigo made a face at Roshi's back and turned to look at Goshu and Dende.  "Alright, to be fair I got the idea from Roshi."

"That's funny, I don't recall devising any attack that can disrupt a Kamehameha!"  Roshi said from the stove.

"You didn't but you still gave me the idea you jerk!"

"That's it, everyone out so you stop pestering the poor girl."  Goshu said.

Ichigo glared at Goshu but said nothing.

"Ah man!"  Tee whined as Boxers pulled him out the door.

"I have to cook or the food will burn."  Roshi said.

"Fine, then shut up, be silent and let her talk." Goshu said before looking back at Ichigo.  "Alright, how did Roshi give you this idea?"

"Well, I got it from his Thunderflash attack.  You see, he gathers negative and positively charged energy and slams it together really fast so it blows up.  Well I got to thinking that something like that only used as a counter to a beam would be really effective."

"Yes, but the Kamehameha isn't charged with electrons or protons.  It is just pure energy."  Goshu stated.

"Yes I know, but all ki functions on a set pattern.  Roshi feels different than you and you feel different than Dende, but you all have more or less the same exact energy."

"Dear child, are you saying that you tried to make something that was opposite to the energy in the Kamehameha?" Dende interjected suddenly.

"Yes, I would have thought that was obvious."  Ichigo replied smugly.  "And it worked."

"And you are very lucky to be alive."  Dende shot back.

"Why do you say that?  It just took a lot of concentration and practice.  It's not like I had to throw everything I had into it."

"Ichigo, dear child, I am amazed that you could even accomplish what you have obviously accomplished.  The strength of will it took is impressive.  However, I fear if you ever tried to do so again it very well might kill you.  You see, ki is the energy of life.  It is the energy created by the bindings between Mind, Soul, and Body."

"Some races are weak of mind, or body or soul and have no knowledge of ki at all.  Saiyans are blessed with strength in all three and as such have strong ki.  By the power of our minds we who know of ki can manipulate our ki and use it to do a great number of things.  However to manipulate ki in such a manner as you described is extraordinary, and dangerous because ki is life itself.  As you said all life functions on a set level, so while you can manipulate energy with it, manipulating the ki itself is manipulating your own life energy.  You, my dear, forced your ki into being the opposite of what it would normally be.  The polar opposite of normal life.  That you didn't break the bindings between Body and Soul only tells us how incredibly strong, or lucky, you are."

"Please don't call it luck.  Luck doesn't exist."  Ichigo said before she chewed on her lip and rubbed her head for a while.  "So to go with the analogy of energy types that I started with.  While it is easy to use ki to say make a electrically charged attack, what I did was making um... anti-ki or something?"

"I couldn't put it in better terms."

"So why didn't I pass out when I was performing the attack?  Why did it happen afterwards?"

"Shock."  Goshu said.  "Like cold shock in animals.  You said it took a lot of concentration to do the attack.  Once it worked I am willing to bet you stopped concentrating and your ki tried to snap back to normal but couldn't."

"I have an idea if you would care to listen to me."  Roshi said quietly from over by the stove.

"I guess as long as I'm getting told how stupid I was you might as well add your thoughts to the pile."  Ichigo replied before looking up at him expectantly.

"Um, well since we were using my Thunderflash attack as an example.  The second time I tried that attack when I was working I didn't control it right and the electricity arced through me.  It used me as a circuit and gave me quite the jolt.  Anyway, I was thinking given what Dende and my father said and how they said that it was the links between the mind the body and the soul that made ki, that you could have shorted yourself out.  I mean, you were and are obviously alive, but right afterwards your ki was almost non-existent.  As if something was blocking it, like a short."  Roshi said.

Ichigo absentmindedly thought of the last time she had tried to short herself out in the catacomb run with normal electricity, and cringed.  "I get the picture.  I guess it wasn't such a good idea.  Can we please eat now, that food is smelling really good and I am famished."

'Hm, almost dying seems to have made her more civil again.  I wonder how long this nice streak will last.'  Roshi thought as he went to call the rest of the group in to eat.

* * *

They were just finishing eating when a short squat blue man with little round black sunglasses on, walked into the dining room followed by Dende.

"Eating?  I should have known, Goku almost ate me out of house and home while he stayed with me.  I barely got to eat a thing!"

Ichigo looked at the new stranger.  "From the looks of it, your diet didn't hurt you.  Might have even helped."

Dende, Piccolo, and Nail all sweat dropped while the Saiyans looked on at the blue man who was starting to turn purple.

Suddenly the man snorted and started laughing.  "No respect.  I get no respect from any of you.  Goku blew up my planet, and you think he ever comes and visits?  No.  But that's ok.  I like your sense of humor.  Training you will be fun."

"Training me?"  Ichigo looked around.  "What about them?"

"They haven't made me laugh yet."  The blue man smiled and then laughed some more.  "Um since you people can't seem to guess, I am King Kai.  I invented the Kaioken and even though Roshi might know how to do it he obviously can't teach worth a rice ball's chance on your table."

"HEY that's..." Roshi started to say before Goshu clamped his hand over Roshi's mouth.

"King Kai?  I thought we had to die to go train in heaven with you.  You honor us with your presence."  Goshu said reverently.

King Kai snorted, "Well I wouldn't have, but if Kaioshin can come down to Earth then I guess I can too, besides, you need me.  I haven't been needed in a long time."  He finished more to himself than to anyone in the room.

"So you invented the Kaioken?"  Tee asked between mouthfuls of potatoes.

"Kaio Ken, I am Kaiosama or King Kai, no one disputes that the Kame master Roshi created the Kame Hame Ha."  King Kai said after snorting and shaking his head.  "Youth these days, they just don't understand history."

Several people laughed at the perplexed look on Tee's face.

"Anyway, I'm in charge now, so no more eating.  Time to make me laugh!"  King Kai said as he picked up the table and started heading for the door.

The Saiyans in the room all looked at each other and then at Dende.  Dende just shrugged.  "To use her words, the diet might even do you some good."

"Boxers looked at Tee and Roshi.  "I say we get him first and then teach the Kaio that it doesn't matter who you are, you don't take food from a Saiyan!"

Ichigo almost fell out of her chair laughing.  "I couldn't have said it better.  Nobody takes food from me!"

* * *

Ironically Tee took the longest to make King Kai laugh.  Once all of them had succeeded in that task however, the training for the Kaioken was surprisingly straight up.  In a matter of a few weeks of intensive meditation everyone except Ichigo had mastered it to some degree.

Dende, Goshu, and King Kai all determined that some residual effect from her coma was preventing her from focusing.  Not only was she unable to master the Kaioken, but she couldn't reach nearly the power level she had previous to the coma.

So as it was Ichigo who spent a better portion of the next few months training specifically with King Kai while Roshi and the others trained with each other.

And while they all trained, in the moments of rest or calm, Roshi watched.  Everyone but him, it seemed noticed his tendency to glance, or watch or simply gaze off towards where Ichigo tried valiantly to regain her lost skills.

They all knew what was happening, but given Roshi's past reactions, no one said a word.

* * *

Seven months into training in the Room of Spirit and time.

Ichigo finally mastered the Kaioken.  Roshi was glad, today would be the first day he would get to spar with her since that fateful day she put herself into a coma.

'Well I know she found her stamina back.  She can push Kaioken times ten easily.  This could be an interesting fight.  She has gained power really fast now that she has healed from whatever it was she did to herself.'  Roshi thought as Ichigo smirked across at him.

"Well, you ready to have some fun?"  She asked.

"Yeah I guess."

"Ok, how about we not mess with the low power stuff and just go right into the thick of things?"

'So, you're in a rush to get beaten?  Your impatience will cost you.' Roshi thought, "yeah let's"

The two of them both powered up at the same time red ki flared, growing out and upwards.  

* * *

Elsewhere in the Room of Spirit and Time, the three fusions of Boxee, Naiccolo, and Goshi paused to look in the direction of the energy flares.

"Both are around three million, that could be an interesting fight."  Boxee said, jealous of the fact that he needed to fuse to even approach power of such level.

"Yeah, and Roshi is holding back again, like usual."  Naiccolo replied.

Goshi grabbed Boxee and threw him into Naiccolo.  "Nobody called time out.  Let them fight, we gain nothing by just watching them fight while we are fused."

The other two agreed and the ROSAT rumbled with the energy spent by the two separate fights going on within.

* * *

The flames in the room curled and wisped around them as they fought.  Neither Roshi, nor Ichigo claimed the upper ground for very long as they traded blow for blow, beam for beam, block for block.

"You're holding back again!  I hate it when you hold back you jerk!"  Ichigo screamed as she landed a knee to Roshi's gut.

"Not so much as you may think."  Roshi said back.

"Not like it would matter much,"  Ichigo replied as she blocked a punch and caught Roshi's left foot with her ankle, flipping him around in the air.  "I'm still faster than you."

"You want to bet?  I'm wearing weights again."  Roshi said as he kicked his boots off and then took off his wrist guards.  "There, now I'll be a lot faster."

Ichigo just looked at him.  "Ok you are an idiot."  She said as she reached back and untangled two large ball shaped things from her hair.  She then kicked off her own boots, and wrist guards.  "I'm faster now too.  Ready to dance?"

"Bring it on."

Roshi blocked two roundhouse punches before Ichigo kicked him in the ribs and forced him back.  'This is going to suck, she really is faster than me.  Time to bump it up a notch or two.'

Roshi pushed himself to Kaioken times fifteen.  It was the most he had ever done and it was the most his body could take.  It was however, significantly more than Ichigo could hope to match.  Over the next few seconds while the fire turned to ice, Roshi struck from all sides and Ichigo finally was forced to land and call for break.

"Shouldn't ask for what you can't handle."  Roshi said as he landed near her and sat on an ice chunk.

"Don't get too comfortable.  I would hate to see you tense up and not be able to continue once I catch my breath.  Besides, you just caught me by surprise."

"Right."  Roshi scoffed.  He leaned back on his ice chunk and fell to the floor as it suddenly boiled away as the room once again burst into flames.  "Ouch, that was a quick cold spell."

"Too bad, this heat is suffocating."  Ichigo replied.  "It is hard to fight in it."

Roshi bent down to grab the tear in his pants at his knee and ripped the bottom half off.  He then repeated the process with the other leg and then stripped out of his shirts.  "Nah, it's not too bad."

"Oh that is so unfair."

"Not my problem, besides, you could strip down some, not like I would care."

Ichigo's cheeks flushed.  "You would get too much enjoyment out of it.  Pervert."

"Gah, Ichigo look at yourself.  I can see your abs already, your gi is so shredded all that is left of it are tattered rags.  Besides, not like I haven't seen you in less before."

"You are disgusting."  Ichigo replied.

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts.  Nothing to get upset about."

"They wipe that ridiculous smirk of your ugly face!" Ichigo yelled as she jumped at Roshi.

Roshi summer-salted out of the way and kicked her in the butt as she passed.

"Thought you were supposed to be faster then me."  He taunted.

Ichigo jumped at him and he slid out of the way while he tried to put her into a head lock.  All he managed to do was rip the rest of her tattered gi top off of her.

"Opps."

"Opps?  What the heck were you trying to do you sick perverted jerk!"  Ichigo yelled at him.

"Um here want it back?"  Roshi replied as he held the gi out to her.

Ichigo grabbed it and threw it aside before she straightened out her now midriff length gray undershirt.  "You think this is all terribly funny don't you?"

"Um, well um, to be honest, ah, yes.  You are really self conscious for someone who grew up in the public eye."

"Oh and you aren't?  You developed lies based on lies to protect you style of life.  I just don't like hormonal perverts looking at me."

"For the last time I'm not a pervert!  You want the honest truth?  You're certainly not unkind on the eyes to look at, but you are so not my type so could you just drop this whole pervert crap and just fight, or would you rather bicker like an old hag all day long?"

"I'm not bickering!"

"Are too"

"Am NOT!"

"No comment!"

"PERVERT!"

* * *

Some forty minutes later.

The room was still boiling hot with flames sizzling and crackling around the two fighters.  The two were in the middle of a stare off.  Their argument had broken down to glaring and then the occasional few minutes of hectic sparing.  It was now a moment of calm as they locked eyes and glared.

'How long is this going to take?  Fight and glare, bitch and bicker and fight and glare.'  Roshi thought as he watched Ichigo intently.  A small bead of sweat rolled down her forehead past her temple and down her left cheek.  It caught his attention and he started watching it.  It rolled down her cheek and then past her jaw to her slim neck.  From there it pooled with some more sweat near the hollow of her neck formed where the collar bones come together.  Ichigo twitched and the pooled sweat dribbled down her skin over her sternum to flow into the valley that was the start of her cleavage before it ran into the top of her black bra and soaked in.

When Roshi realized what he was looking at he jerked his eyes away, only he hadn't ever looked, his eyes had never left Ichigo's as they stared each other down.  'did I just sense that sweat drop without seeing it?'  He asked himself as he tried once again to focus on a sweat drop.

A droplet of sweat flicked away from one of her eyelashes as she blinked and floated off to evaporate before it hit the ground.  Roshi followed it's fall until it was no more.

Roshi realized what was happening and had to calm his heart which was racing.  He blocked his thoughts of the room and the heat, and the others who were now sparring as individuals from his mind.  He focused singularly and totally on Ichigo.

Following another bead of sweat he focused once again on her chest, but not On her chest but more in her chest.  The beating of her heart, the expansion and contraction of her lungs.  She swallowed and he sensed the saliva flow down to her stomach.

'This is incredible...'  Roshi thought to himself as he suddenly felt the muscles in her right foot tense as energy flowed into it.

"KI KICK!!!"  Ichigo screamed as her ki spiked and her aura flared red.

Her foot sailed through the afterimage Roshi had left as he dodged behind her.

"I'm over here." Roshi teased as he flicked her left ear.

Ichigo spun around in circles over the next few minutes as she tried in vain to hit or kick or jab or throw a ki attack at Roshi.  But he was never there by the time the attack got there.

Finally out of breath and needing to water horridly badly, Ichigo gave in.

"Good spar.  That was fun.  We should do it again later after we've gotten some rest."  Roshi replied as he caught up to Ichigo as she walked back to the houses.

"Yeah, maybe eventually I might be able to beat you."  Ichigo said neutrally.

"Hey, what's this, no feeling sorry for yourself, you've missed a lot of training cause of your... coma and well it's only natural that I would be a bit better then you now.  You did really good."

"Yeah, up until you decided to stop playing and then I couldn't even touch you."

'hmmm, I may have had a bit to much fun, she's really sounding down about it.'  Roshi thought before he grabbed her shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze.  "Don't worry, it will come."

Ichigo flinched away from Roshi's hand and walked silently back to the houses.

* * *

When they got to the cluster of houses they found Slip in a skimpy string bikini basking in the heat on a towel.

"Slip you look all too comfortable there.  I think you need to come spar with me now.  Roshi told her as he kneeled down beside her and poked at her belly.

"Stop that you dork!  And I don't need to train with you.  I'm enjoying the heat."  Slip said as she rolled over to lie on her stomach.

Roshi shook his head grabbed Ichigo from the kitchen and went in search of Dende.

* * *

"Hey Slip," Roshi said as he and Ichigo walked back over to her.  "Last chance, time to spar."

"Nope, I'm basking in the glorious heat."

"No you're not."  Ichigo replied as she nodded at Dende and dumped the bucket of water she had on Slip the moment Dende had the room changed from hot to cold.

Slip became one big blue ice cube.  A few seconds later she finally broke free of the ice and shot to her feet.  "Thh.h.h.ha.a.a.at.tt.t waa.aa.sssss Not FUNNY!"  Slip yelled as she warmed herself up with her own aura.  "Take THIS!!!  BIIIGGGGG BAAAAANNNGGGG!!!"  Slip yelled as she sent a weak yellowish white beam at Roshi.  Roshi didn't even flinch as it hit him square in the center of his bare chest.

"WHAT?!?!"  Slip bellowed.  It didn't do anything!!!"

"Well duh, Vegeta designed it to feed off the energy of a Super Saiyan's aura.  It only works if you're a Super Saiyan."  Roshi scoffed.

Slip closed her eyes and shook for a moment.  "Then please tell me why anyone bothered to try to teach a useless attack to me.  I'll never ever use it and you know damn well I'll never go Super Saiyan, maybe butch girl here might but I won't and you know it so don't even argue the point Roshi."

Ichigo coughed, "Well maybe if you took your training seriously you would be able to.  As it is you'll never reach it because you seem to not want it.  I feel sorry  for your lack of ambition."

"My lack of ambition?  What?  Oh please don't tell me they didn't tell you."

"Tell me what?"  Ichigo said as she followed Slip into their house.

"They didn't.  Those assholes!  All I've been hearing lately is Super Saiyan this and Super Saiyan that mixed in with a bunch of crap about the Kaioken.  I can't believe they didn't tell you.

"Roshi what the heck is she talking about.  Tell me what?  What should I know?"  Ichigo asked Roshi who was standing silently by the door.

"They didn't tell you that FEMALES CAN'T GO SUPER SAIYAN!"

Ichigo blinked a few times.  "What do you mean females can't go Super Saiyan?"

"I mean just that, we can't go Super Saiyan.  Pan was Gohan's daughter, she had a power level in the tens of millions according to the stuff I dug up from the GKSS, but she never made it to Super Saiyan, every time she got into a situation were she could have she passed out.  Trust me if I know anything it's science.  We can't do it.  We have the wrong hormones, don't have enough testosterone."

Ichigo stuttered for a few moments grasping for words.

"Slip, I think you had better explain that because while I knew Pan had never made it to Super Saiyan they whole hormone thing is news to me."  Roshi said calmly from the corner knowing full well that Ichigo could get rather unpredictable in the face of such information.

Slip rolled her eyes.  "Ok ok, sit down I don't need you two jumping all over me while I try to explain."  She said as she pulled on a bath robe and sat down.

"Alright.  Super Saiyan for lack of a better explanation is a genetic switch that gets turned on and off in each DNA strand of each cell.  When one achieves Super Saiyan for the first time it is reportedly highly stressful because it is essentially a rapid mutation."

"Ok so why can't we make the transformation then?"

Slip exhaled and then took a deep breath.  "Like I said, we don't have enough testosterone.  It acts like a catalyst and allows for the transformation to happen.  Without it, the body can't handle the change."

"Then why did you say I might be able to just a bit ago when we were outside?"

Slip laughed, "Cause you're more butch than any girl I've ever met.  I wouldn't be surprised if your hormones are messed up enough to allow it."

Ichigo sucked on her lip and popped her jaw.  "I'm sure that was an insult but at the moment I don't really care.  So there is a chance?"

"Well yeah, I mean I didn't do the experiments but I have heard that if you put cells from a female in a test tube with a high level of Testosterone in it we can force the change just like we can with the male cells.  They blow up and we don't gain anything from the test, but they blow up just like the male cells do."

"So you're saying that with like steroids or something then I could?" Ichigo asked, deep in thought.

Slip looked up at Roshi in surprise.  "Um, I guess."

"Get me the steroids."

"No." Slip and Roshi both said at the same time.  Roshi gave Slip the oddest look.

"Look, I can't.  I won't.  You have every right to be angry over what I was tempted to do when I thought Roshi had killed you when you had first arrived here.  It was immoral, unethical and down right evil.  I berate myself every day over what I almost did.  I can't let you do what you suggest now even if it would have the possible benefits.  I won't do it.  It's just wrong so please don't ask."  Slip said while absentmindedly poking her index fingers together.

Ichigo bit her lip and one could hear as she ground her teeth.  "You don't understand.  I need this.  I need to save my people.  I need this and I don't care what the cost is.  I don't care about if it's natural or not I need this!"  Ichigo yelled into Slip's face.

"No, I won't, now don't ask me again."  Slip screamed before she knocked her chair over and ran into the bathroom.

"Ichigo, come with me, we need to talk."  Roshi said as he grabbed Ichigo's arm and drug her out of the house.

He turned on her as soon as they got out of the house.  "How dare you!  How dare you do that to her?"

Ichigo glared at him.  "You don't understand! I..."

"No, you don't understand.  You can't take the moral high road when you judge others and then lower your own standards for yourself.  You still, after all this time won't spend more than a few words in conversation with Slip because she had the audacity to dissect your tail like it was a simple science experiment.  It was wrong and you were correct in being angry but it is about time you moved on.  Now asking her to bend and do something that even you admit is wrong is along the lines of the Changelings.  You keep reminding me that they won't be holding back.  I know that, and I know we need every chance we can get, but how can you justify calling them monsters when you are willing to go to just about the same lengths to get your own power!"

"But I need..."

"No you don't.  You need the Changelings to stop killing your people.  You would like to be the one who personally saves them.  I guess it would go a long way towards earning their respect if you did, but YOU don't need to be a Super Saiyan.  It isn't the only way you can beat them.  Besides, Slip could be wrong.  Goku said that one needed a pure heart and cause to reach Super Saiyan.  Who knows if Pan actually had reason or if her own doubt held her back.  Chances are even if you did mess yourself up with drugs and crap your own doubt would hold you back.  Now if you are going to keep training with us you had best not lower your standards and fall into the path that creates monsters!"

"But, DAMN IT!!  I hate it when you're right!"

"Good, now lets go back in there and apologize to Slip ok?"

Ichigo's shoulders sagged.  "Ok."

Roshi turned and opened the door, and stepped into the house to be met by a screaming Slip.

"EEEEEEEAAAAKKKK GETTT OUTTTT!!!!!!!!"  Slip screamed as she tried desperately to cover herself.

Ichigo caught a glimpse and started laughing.

Slip finished changing clothes in a matter of moments and walked past Ichigo who was still laughing her head off and out the door.

Roshi for his part was banging his head into the wall.  "Stupid stupid stupid."

"GET YOUR BUTT IN THERE NOW, MISTER!!!"  Slip screamed into his ear.

Roshi meekly walked into the house and turned to look at the very very red faced Slip.

"I didn't see anything I looked away right away."

Slip glared from Roshi to Ichigo who was still laughing.

"What the hell is so funny?!?!"

Ichigo looked up a wiped a tear from her eyes.  "Roshi is.  He's either got the best timing of any pervert ever or the worst!"

Slip glared at her and then turned to look at Roshi.  "AND YOU MISTER, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF KNOCKING ON DOORS!!!!"

"I'm sorry I didn't see anything I looked away right away."

Slip shook her arms in rage.  "You say you didn't see anything because you looked away meaning that you saw and realized what you saw so you looked away.  WHICH MEANS YOU SAW ME TOTALLY NUDE, YOU PRICK!"

I didn't mean to and I looked away right away.  I barely saw anything!"

"Roshi I'm not stupid.  Your visual mental retention rate is like 99.999999999% you never forget ANYTHING you ever see.  It's why you never have to study.  Don't tell me you didn't see much cause I know you could describe in ten years every single pimple on my body and tell me the location if you wanted to!!!

Ichigo stopped laughing.  "What did you just say?"  She asked Slip while most of the color drained from her face.

"I said Roshi never forgets anything he ever sees why?"

"YOU DISGUSTING PERVERT!!!"  Ichigo screamed as she got up to walk towards Roshi.  "So, what this how you get your jollies or something?"

Slip cocked an eyebrow at Roshi, "So you walked in on her too?"

"Ah huh" Roshi squeaked.

"Well then, which one of us is better looking? I want an honest answer."  Slip said, glaring at Roshi.

"I'm not going to answer that question!!"

"Why not?" Slip said before jabbing Roshi in the ribs.

"Because I think of you like you're my sister and that is totally horribly disgusting and I'm not going to judge Ichigo like that cause it's just wrong!"  Roshi said while keeping his hands low enough to protect himself from anything Either of them might try to do.

"Not good enough.  I want an opinion or you're not leaving this house.  Right Ichigo.  Wouldn't you just love to know what Pervert Boy here really thinks about, you?"

"Hmmm, I think that's an excellent idea."

"Fine, then you can get Carge or someone like that in here and the two of you can put on a show or something but leave me out of it.  Just don't be surprised if his brain bubbles out of his nose and pools on the floor in a big bloody mess!"

Ichigo looked at Slip, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's Roshi's way of saying we are both good looking without saying that we are good looking.  And that Carge is a real pervert.  He's trying to claim that since he didn't get a bloody nose from looking at me he isn't a sick bastard or something."

"I'M NOT A PERVERT!!!!"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed.  "He was sniffling."

"No I'm not, I'm NOT!"

"That night when he walked in on me, he was sniffling."

Slip glared at Roshi, "That true Roshi, Ichigo give you a nosebleed?"

"NO!" He wailed before having to sniffle because of just thinking about that night.

"HE'S doing it right now!"  Ichigo said before looking around.  "You got any of your nasty lab stuff here.  I need a scalpel.  Hopefully a dull one."

Roshi scooted towards the door, but Ichigo beat him to it and broke the doorknob off.  "From what Slip told me about this house you wouldn't be able to beat your way out even if you were a Super Saiyan."  She then looked over at Slip.  "So you got scalpel?"

"Nah, I suggest just using torsion.  From what I have heard, it is more painful anyway.  Just twist them off.  I mean they are called nuts."

"Gah!  This isn't funny girls!"  Roshi whined as he jumped past Ichigo's hand which had gotten dangerously close to his obi.

"No it isn't.  It's justice."  Ichigo said with an evil gleam in her eyes.

Roshi jumped under Slip as she dove for him and scooted to the back of the house.  There, he saw his exit.  The girls had forgotten to lock one of the windows.  He jumped through it and flew as fast as he could towards where his father and the others were sparring.

"HELP THEY'RE AFTER ME!!!"  He wailed as he landed behind his father moments before Ichigo and Slip landed.

"Let us get Roshi and nobody else will get hurt."  Slip said with a smirk.

Goshu looked at the two girls and his jaw dropped.  "Roshi, you got them to work together!"

"I noticed.  I liked them better when they hated each other!"

"Oh for shame!  Whatever you did to get them to work together, you need to do it more often."  Goshu said while patting Roshi on the back and pushing him towards the girls.

"DAD!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

(point of explanation.  In Japanese manga and anime a nose bleed is associated with dirty thoughts of a sexual nature.  Hence the reason why Roshi would get a nose bleed while thinking about the night he walked in on Ichigo.)

I hope to get 37 up before the Thanksgiving holiday which is this next Thursday here in the US.

Special thanks to Josav for being online and editing this.

This chapter is dedicated to her because FF.net deleted her account for no reason  THOSE B@$T@RDS!!!!

Her website is at  http://www.asashey.cjb.net/  Go there. She has nice art and cool fics.

In other notes.  Kitsune Maxwell is coming out of hibernation and is writing again.  Go check her stuff out at  http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=129268

Thank you all for reading.

Please Review.  This is the longest chapter I have ever written and I really do want your feedback as a lot is happening in the story.

The Smooster


	37. Comming of Age

Chapter 37

Coming of Age

213th day in the ROSAT

"Why you Perverts!"  Ichigo yelled at Roshi and his father before she turned around to fly back towards the house she shared with Slip.

Roshi glanced at his father's confused face and then turned to follow her.  "Ichigo if you would just let me explain!"

"What's there to explain?!"  Ichigo yelled as Roshi's watch suddenly started beeping like it was about to explode.

Ichigo turned around and glared at Roshi, "does everything about you have to be obnoxious and annoying?  What is that stupid beeping for?"

Roshi quickly shut the alarm off and looked around rather sheepishly.  "Well um, It's ah, my birthday, I'm eighteen now."

Goshu cocked an eyebrow.  "We've been training that long already?"

"Yep by my count it will be exactly 7 months tomorrow."  Roshi replied.

"Well congratulations birthday boy, I guess we will just have to beat the snot out of you since none of us have real gifts."  Boxers replied from were he was floating.

"I can't believe it!"  Slip suddenly spat.  "Roshi you've had that watch the entire time and you didn't tell me we missed MY birthday?  You selfish little turd!"

"Hey not my fault I'm the only one that can tell time."  Roshi replied smugly before turning back to look at Ichigo.

Ichigo for her part had her face scrunched up with a good portion of her bottom lip sucked into her mouth as she seemed to be doing rapid math in the air as she counted things off with her fingers.

"Ichigo..."  Roshi said with a hint of worry as she suddenly scratched at her collar like she was choking and darted towards the archway door to the ROSAT.

"I have to go.  I have to leave.  I can't stay here any longer." She said to herself as she left.

Roshi looked back at his father and the rest of them.  "What did I do now?"

Slip shook her head.  "Don't look at me.  You're the one who is, how did she put it?" Slip cocked her head to the side just a bit and ran a finger along her cheek to her chin, "oh yeah! Obnoxious and annoying!"

Roshi shot Slip a look.  "Fine make fun of things, I'm going to go figure out what miss irrationality is doing, and why she ran off this time."

* * *

Ichigo was a flurry of nerves as she jetted across the polished floor of the Sanctuary.  'Seventeen.  I've been seventeen for months without even thinking about it!  I've spent months in there with them training and what do I have to show for it?  Barely anything!  I found out a good way to kill myself!  I could have just gone straight to the Changelings if I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory as the Jerk so aptly put it.'

Ichigo felt Roshi exit the ROSAT and start to follow her.  "How did I know he would be following me?"  She said aloud to herself as she rolled her eyes and sped up.

'I don't have time for his platitudes.  He doesn't understand anything and neither does his father or any of the rest of them.  They aren't training nearly hard enough.  They aren't taking this seriously.'  Ichigo thought as she landed amid the strewn wreckage of her destroyed ship. 

Ichigo quickly began to sort through the debris looking for her mother's pendant.  'I can't believe I forgot about it' she mentally scolded herself as Roshi landed.

"Ichigo, what are you doing?"  Roshi asked as he gingerly picked his way through the rubble to where she had just pried a section of her ship's hull out of the ground and tossed it aside.

"None of you business.  I didn't ask for you to follow me.  I don't want you here.  Go away."  She said tersely without even looking up at Roshi.

"No," Roshi said quickly as he walked around to look her in the face.  "You are not the most rational person I have ever met, but for you to flee from training like this means that something is either bothering you greatly or incredibly important.  I'm not leaving until I find out what it is."

Ichigo kicked a broken segment of bulkhead and glared up at Roshi.  "You call that mockery training?  That wasn't training!  That was... was... a joke!  Slip was more worried about sounding good on that stupid what did you call it?  Karaoke machine then actually training.  Sure your father and Boxers, and even the idiot Tee learned fusion, but what about me?  I've spent the past what was it seven of your months in that stupid white room and what have I got to show for it?  Nothing!  I've learned how to do one stupid power-up, but that won't mean anything when the Changelings get here!"

"Ichigo..."

"No!"  Ichigo yelled as she chucked a tattered piece of foam insulation at him.  "I don't want any platitudes or excuses or stupid drivel!  You may not think I will matter much in the coming fight since I obviously can't become a Super Saiyan but I'm not going to just sit around being useless!"  She continued muttering to herself for several moments as she threw more wreckage around as she searched.  'I'm sick of being useless.  No one ever expects me to do anything and I'm tired of it.' She thought to herself before she finally kicked a large mangled block of metal and sat down were it had been to hold her head and mumble to herself.

Ichigo felt Roshi lay his hand on her shoulder and she shuddered. "Don't touch me.  I told you to go away."

Roshi removed his hand.  "There's more to this then just what Slip said about the Super Saiyans.  What's bothering you?"

'He'd never understand.  Life is just fun and games to him, he's never seen real pain.  He doesn't know.  He doesn't understand.'  Ichigo told herself as she shook her head.  "No!  You wouldn't understand.  Go away."

"No.  This isn't Saiya and you can't order me around.  I'm tired of you always claiming I wouldn't understand or saying I don't know when you refuse to tell me anything.  First, what are you looking for?  Second, why is it bothering you so much?  And lastly what do you mean that training was a joke?  You are a lot stronger and faster then you were before.  Isn't that the point of training?"

'A lot faster and stronger?  The point of training?'  Ichigo shook her head.  "You are so clueless!  The point incase you forgot was to get strong enough to beat the Changelings!  We should have been training non stop.  We should have been pushing ourselves to our limits.  Not stopping to relax and to play those stupid games or sing with that stupid machine!"

Roshi laughed and Ichigo turned on him.  "What's so funny?  How can you laugh?"

Roshi held up his hands.  "Nothing, I just seem to recall how you never even attempted to sing or play any of our games.  The only reason you relaxed on the days my dad said we were relaxing on was because King Kai made you do all kinds of meditations and stuff."

"And I shouldn't have even done that!  Most of them were pointless!"  Ichigo spat.

"No wonder it took you so long to learn the Kaioken."  Roshi surmised.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?!?"

"Just that you missed a very large part of our training.  What's the point of pushing your body to the breaking point if your mind isn't prepared?  Didn't you learn anything from almost killing yourself?  Ki is created by mind, body, and soul.  Purely physical training only trains one part of that trio."

Ichigo shot Roshi a look of contempt.  "Oh and I suppose you are going to tell me that the stupid singing and the game somehow trained your souls, cause they obviously didn't train your mind any."

Ichigo glanced around looking for something to kill.  Unfortunately the only thing close at hand was Roshi.  Killing him might relieve a lot of stress and solve some of her problems, but it would probably be counterproductive in the end.

Roshi just shook his head.  "In a way yes, they were training for both our minds and our souls.  Poetry, music, things like that are not tenants of the mind.  They are created by the soul."

Ichigo almost gagged.  "Please don't go turning into a philosopher on me I don't think I could handle it."

Roshi laughed with one hand on the back of his head with that stupid dopey grin and Ichigo felt some of the strain just leach out of her.  "Ok, ok, I promise to try not to turn into some prophesizing old codger while you are around."  He said with a smile.

Ichigo glared at him.  'I hate him!  I hate him!  I hate how he can turn anything into a joke!  I hate how I can't stay mad at him!  I hate how he never seems to worry about anything!  I hate him!'  She thought before sucker punching him in the gut.  "I don't find anything about this funny!"

Roshi staggered back a bit and tripped over a broken conduit, but had not been caught totally unaware so was not winded.  "Girl, you have really got to calm down.  You get riled up about things you really can't control."  Roshi said as he got back up and dusted himself off.

"Oh, so I shouldn't get worked up over the fact that my father sent me away to protect me?  Over the fact that he expected me to fail?  Over the fact that while my people have been being killed by the Changelings I have been spending months learning practically nothing?  Over the fact that even if I did find a way to make it back home and save my people that I still won't be accepted because you or your father or one of the fusions or someone else will be the ones doing the saving because I WON'T BE A SUPER SAIYAN!  Or how about the fact that you disgraced me forever by getting me to drop my guard long enough for you to RIP OFF MY TAIL?!?!  For your sake I hope you shut up because you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about and I am really getting sick of you sugar coating everything.  Wake up Roshi, this isn't some fantasy world.  People are dieing!  MY people are dieing.  Not everything has a happy ending!  You can't change that.  Not with your days relaxing, not with your stupid music, not with your pointless games, not with the fusion dance and definitely not with the Kaioken because as you yourself stated before IT CAN'T BEAT A CHANGELING!!"

Out of breath and ashamed at what she had admitted to Roshi Ichigo sulked away towards another large pile of debris and started rummaging through it.

For a long while Roshi didn't move, then he slowly walked over to where she was working.  "I'm sorry.  When you want to talk I'll be over there."  He said before walking away again.

Ichigo glared at his back as he walked away.  'What makes you think I'll ever be ready to talk?'

* * *

Roshi had a lot to think about as he walked away from Ichigo.  'She thinks her father expected her to fail?  No wonder she has this stigma about her any time it looks like she failed at something.'

As Roshi pondered her words, he recalled how Slip had mentioned her nightmares.  'Well Roshi, you walked into it, you might as well weather the storm and get to the bottom of what's bothering her.'  He thought as he poked about the wreckage.  Looking at the destroyed ship made him think of the legend of the Titanic, 'I just wonder how big the iceberg really is, and if I really have seen the tip, or just a shadow of it.'

* * *

Several hours later Roshi winced as Ichigo swore and threw what looked like had been part of the reactor subassembly several kilometers.

'I think I've waited long enough, if I wait long enough she might start ki blasting things.'  Roshi decided as he got up from the captain's chair he had found and walked over to where Ichigo was kicking debris around.

"What are you looking for?  I might be able to help you find it."

Ichigo turned to glare at him.  "I thought you were going to wait for me to be ready to talk."  She said accusingly.

Roshi shrugged, 'I don't have forever,' he thought before looking around.  "It is almost noon.  We have been here almost six hours.  Don't you think it is time you tell me what you are looking for so we can get back to the ROSAT?"

Ichigo glared at him.  "I've wasted enough of my life in that white void, I'm not going in there again.  I realize we were in there less then a day, but it was months of time my people didn't have.  I won't save them by going into a place where it is so easy to forget oneself."

"Ichigo I think you are being overly harsh on yourself."  Roshi said softly.

"I think you're an idiot.  If you are trying to cheer me up it isn't working.  Go away."

"No, I'm not going to let you mope in your own self pity, now tell me what you are looking for.

"I am not moping in self pity.  If you want to know I am looking for my mother's pendant.  It is very important that I find it."

'All this over a simple piece of jewelry?  Women are all the same.'  Roshi thought, then shrugged.  "What's it look like, I'll help you find it."

Ichigo took a quick gasp of air and turned to look at Roshi.  "No, you mustn't touch it!  Only the Queen, or a member of the Royal house can touch it."

"Oh please, we aren't on Saiya, just tell me what it looks like and if I happen to see it I'll point at it or something!"

Ichigo clenched her fists and looked like she was going to say something but instead just kicked a pipe.  "I know this isn't Saiya but if you don't think my traditions matter then you are an even worse bigot then most Changelings!  It is an oval about this big,"  she said holding up her hands in the shape of the pendant, "it is made of gold and platinum and has a large sapphire and small emerald set to look like a planet and it's moon over three crescent rubies and a helix of silver.  I need it and I swear if you do touch it I will kill you."

"Don't bite off more then you can chew.  Why is the stupid thing so valuable to you anyway?  Just cause it was your mother's or is there more to it then that?"

Don't call it stupid, and it's the Queen's Pendant, it's been in the family forever.  I shouldn't even have it I'm not... I wasn't old enough to even have it in my possession when I left, but my father gave it to me right as I left.  He trusted me with it.  If I don't return with it..." her words trailed off as she once again started looking amid the debris.

'She's looking for a Mark of Royalty... There is something going on here that she hasn't told me.  It's like she thinks her own people won't follow her if she shows up without her tail and a stupid piece of jewelry.'  Roshi decided that more then looking for the pendant, he was going to look for anything that might be of a personal nature to Ichigo.  No one he knew ever left home for an extended period of time without taking along something of value.  If her father had given her that pendent just as she left it wasn't something she would bring herself.  'Hmmm, I wonder why she thinks her father trusted her with a pendant, but didn't expect her to save their people?  Her whole thought process is contradictory.'

Roshi set about looking for anything that might look like clothing, or other personal effects.  He reasoned that anything of value would probably have ended up in her personal cabin.

After about another hour of searching, he found what looked like a tattered piece of one of Ichigo's bodysuits sticking out of a partially open closet door.

Roshi very carefully stood the section of the ship the bulkhead was attached to back upright and then pried the door the rest of the way open.  The shelves and racks had collapsed leaving the continence of what had been a walk in closet strewn about on the floor.  Spandex like body suits, sweatshirts, shorts, panties, a few bras, and small packages that at closer examination proved to be feminine hygiene products were quickly chucked away and out the door as though some of the objects had teeth and were highly dangerous.

He soon found a very fancy wooden box partially buried in the clothing and other effects.  Seeing that it had fallen from one of the shelves but not broken open or spilled its continence, Roshi grabbed it and thumbed the latches open.  Inside he found a bundle of neatly folded white leather and a smaller box which was covered in the darkest navy blue velvet and silk Roshi had ever seen.  He opened that box and found a small picture of a woman that looked startlingly like Ichigo in a heavy platinum frame.  'Hmm, this must be her mother.  She will want this back.'

"What are you looking at?"  Ichigo's voice suddenly and quite accusingly asked.

Roshi almost dropped the box as he jumped at the sound of her voice.  "Not your pendent, but I did find these.  He said as he held up the bundle of leather and the silk picture box.  As he did so the leather unfolded and a piece of it fell away with a loud clunk."

'Oops...'  Roshi thought as Ichigo's eyes became saucers and her mouth fell open as she stared at the dropping piece of leather.

Roshi quickly bent to pick up the piece of leather and the Pendant Ichigo had been looking for fell out and landed half way between him and Ichigo.  "Oh, ah, I guess I found your Pendant too."

Ichigo quickly scooped up the Pendant on it's gold chain and reached for her wooden box.  "Give me that you nitwit."

"Hey, don't call me a nit...  is this a loincloth?"  Roshi asked as he looked at the now unfolded piece of leather in his hands.

"It is my Choloe now give it back now!"  Ichigo said as she reached across for it.

Roshi jumped back and held it out looking at the leather thong that held the two longer pieces of white leather together at the tops.  "It IS a loincloth!"  He said in surprise as he held it up.

Ichigo rolled her eyes and reached to snatch it back from him.  "Yes I know it's a loincloth now give it back!"

Roshi blocked her grab and looked at the other piece of leather, which seemed to be a triangular piece of leather with two leather cords coming off of two of the points.  "Then what's this?" he said as he held it up.

Ichigo snatched it from him and quickly refolded it smoothing out some of the creases. "It's... the language doesn't translate.  It's my modesty top for lack of a better word."

Roshi held the loincloth up, "and it goes with this loi... Eah there's blood on the inside of this!"  He said as he suddenly threw the loincloth at her.

Ichigo deftly caught it and looked at him like he was nuts.  "Rather squeamish at the sight of blood for someone who's killed people."

"I've never kill..." Roshi started to say in his defense before he realized that yes, he had killed several of Banana's men.  "But still it's blood on the inside of a loincloth!"

"So?"  Ichigo asked completely clueless as to where he was going with it.

Roshi started frantically motioning in the air with his hands.  "It's blood on the inside of a Loincloth.  Your... well ah blood on the inside of your loincloth and that's just gross!"

"You didn't seem so squeamish when you were covered in my blood after almost killing me if my memory is correct what's your problem now?"

"But, but, but, it wasn't THAT blood!"  Roshi said as he pointed to the loincloth.

A spark of understanding suddenly found it's way to Ichigo's brain and her eyes lit up.  She started laughing almost uncontrollably.

"WHAT THE HECK IS SO FUNNY?"  Roshi asked embarrassed and rather uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Ichigo pulled herself together and stopped laughing.  "You are such an idiot!  That's what's funny!"

"I am not an Idiot!"

"Well then you're just stupid then.  Did you sleep though all your biology lessons or something?"  Ichigo said with a snicker.

"What you mean it isn't?  Well you know..."  Roshi said blushing like a cherry.

"No!  I didn't have my..."  Ichigo's jaw clicked shut and she in turn blushed.  "I can't believe I just about said what I just about said!"  She blurted.

Roshi took a few deep breaths and tried to calm his nerves.  "Look, I may have jumped to some wrong conclusions.  What did you call those?  And why are they so important to you?"

"They are my Choloe.  I...  Ok, you remember that night when I told you about my Trial of Passage?  When would be warriors leave for their Trial, the Choloe is the only garment the can take with them.  Males get only a loin cloth, females also get the... modesty top,"  Ichigo said searching for words to explain.

"Ok, and how old were you when you had to go on this Trial, you never did say."  Roshi asked still looking at her like the whole idea of a Trial of Passage was barbaric.

Ichigo was about to say something when her stomach rumbled, letting its dissatisfaction at the lack of food be known.  Ichigo glanced down for a moment and then looked up at Roshi.  "I don't know about you, but I'm famished.  Can we have this conversation someplace else, after eating?  Or better yet just not have this conversation at all?"

Roshi scratched the back of his head and smiled.  "Yes, we can go eat.  No, you are not getting out of telling me more about yourself.  You've read through all those diaries and journals and know just about everything you have bothered to ask about my family or I.  I think It's about time you opened up and shared something about yourself."

Ichigo slowly shook her head.  "Why do you care?"

"Because I want to."

"Because you want to?  Do you always get everything you want?"  Ichigo said scoldingly.  "I'm not used to answering to anyone but my father or Momo, don't expect me to just tell you my deep dark secrets like all those stupid girls in those stupid movies Slip likes to watch so much."

"Ohh, deep dark secrets.  This could get interesting."  Roshi smirked.

"It was an expression from one of those stupid movies!  I'm not telling you anything!  You don't need to know and I don't need to tell you."

Roshi shook his head, "see, now you might be right about what you need to do, but you are forgetting about doing things that are just proper."

"Oh, so now you are going to presume to lecture me on the right thing to do?" Ichigo spat.

"Someone needs to."  Roshi said as he ducked out the door and away from Ichigo who grabbed a chunk of bulkhead and chucked it at him.

"You INGRATE!!!!!" Ichigo yelled after scooping up her box and several items of the clothing Roshi has carelessly tossed about before taking to the air after him.

Roshi lead her back to the Capsule Corp where they landed on a balcony on the largest dome.

"What are we doing here?"  Ichigo asked as soon as she landed.

"Borrowing money from Slip.  I left my wallet at home and I'm starving, it's faster and easier to just get some from Slip's stash and hit a buffet her in town."

"Oh,"

Roshi punched in the code to open the door and they walked into Slip's bedroom.  Posters of various bands, pictures of people, and various inventions lay strung all over the room.  

"Slip needs a maid"  Ichigo commented as she wrinkled her nose at the mess.

"I don't think that would help much, Slip would just work harder at making a mess then."  Roshi commented with a laugh.

Roshi carefully walked around the room avoiding touching anything that was giving off any signs of being active or dangerous.  He had once been hit by a phased time wave from one of Slip's gizmo's and been frozen in time for four hours.  To him it was only a moment and he didn't really notice the lapse in time.  It was, however, hard to not notice the makeup and other things Slip had put on him while he had been frozen there.

Once he got to her desk he grabbed several large bills and a pen and wrote Slip a note as to where her money stash had gone off to.  Then turning around he noticed Ichigo was holding quite a bundle in her arms.  "Hmm, um here," he said grabbing an empty capsule, "put your stuff in this, that way you don't need to walk around with your clothes and stuff flapping about like some vagrant or something."

Ichigo glared at him but happily put her stuff in the capsule and closed it up.  "Great, now can we please go eat something or do I have to starve to death?"

* * *

Ichigo saw Roshi's eyes light as some new sinister plan no doubt formed in his mind.  She quickly crossed her arms over her chest as his eyes made a sudden play down her body. 'Pervert had better not be...'

"I think I have an idea.  Rather then letting you starve I think I'm going to see if I can't make you fat.  We're going to a buffet I know and I bet you can't eat more then I can."

'Make me fat?  I could eat twenty times my own mass and not gain a gram' Ichigo smirked to herself.  "A bet?  Well since you have absolutely no chance at winning you had better tell me what I get when I win."  She said with a devilish glint in her eyes.

Roshi gave her his goofy grin, "I think we should tell a story.  The winner gets to ask a question and the looser has to be honest and tell the whole story."

Ichigo narrowed her eyes and pretended to be thinking for a moment.  "No, I don't want to hear you tell a story, it would probably bore me to death."

"Bore you to death?  I hardly think I'm that dull!"

"If I win you will spar with me and you won't hold back.  I want to see what your real ability is now since you so carefully hid it while in the ROSAT."

Roshi looked at her once again as though sizing her up.  "Deal.  If I win, you get a story, if you win you get a fight."

"Deal"  Ichigo said as the two of them shook hands and left Slip's messy bedroom.

Ichigo followed Roshi to _Charlie's, _which for all purposes looked like a run down shack on the edge of town.  "You sure have an interesting choice of eating establishments.  I wouldn't think someone of your standing would be caught dead in a dump like this."

Roshi just looked at her and smiled.  "All is not what it seems to be."  He said as he lead her through the door and inside to where a greeter who was dressed as a Cowboy complete with spurs waited by a grand staircase that lead down into the ground.

"Howdy Mr. Son, bit early for the evenin meal." The greeter drawled before turning and bowing to Ichigo while placing his hat over is heart  "Welcome ta Charlie's miss"

Ichigo had the sinking suspicion that had she not been there with Roshi she would have had to fight to get further then the doors considering how the man's lip seemed to curl at the sight of the gis she and Roshi were wearing.

"Ah, Chuck, you busy tonight?  I plan on eating my fill, and she can just about match me."  Roshi said to the man as a large black limousine landed on the camouflaged hover pad outside.

"Kid, I've always liked you, but yer pullin my leg I jist know it!  No way this purty lil thing can eat as much as you!" Chuck scoffed as the elderly couple the limo had disgorged entered.  The old woman took one glance at Roshi and Ichigo and sneered.  Ichigo distinctly heard her ask her husband what the world was coming to when youth didn't know how to dress properly anymore.

Roshi obviously heard her as well because he produced his large stack of bills he borrowed from Slip and waved it in front of Chuck.  "Can we just get one of the rooms in the back?  Or should I take my hunger elsewhere?"

"Rit this wah" Chuck quickly said as he pocketed the cash and lead them down into the restaurant itself.

The inside of Charlie's kept the rustic theme, but it was extravagant a the same time.  'Once again Roshi has managed to point out that I am overly presumptuous.  I wonder if he is doing it on purpose of if this world has so many things that are not what they seem that it just happens without his forethought?'

They were lead a private booth in the back of the place which could be closed off from the rest for the restaurant with large sliding gold plate-glass doors.  Roshi ordered something and then slid the door closed and sat down across from her.

"So, it will be a little while before our food arrives, care to finish our earlier conversation?"

"Which earlier conversation?"

"The one about your um... well your loincloth and triangle thing."  Roshi said after searching for the right words and failing.

"What and give you a story for free?  No way, you are going to have to earn it!" Ichigo shot back feeling superior for not falling for his game.

"Well then what should we talk about then?"  Roshi asked.

"I don't know do we even need to talk?  I really don't like idle conversation."  

"Ok, then lets talk about that Pendant and why it was so important to you.  You said once that your mother died when you were younger.  When did she die?"

Ichigo felt anger starting to bubble up in her, "I don't want to talk about myself or my mother."

"Ok then, how about your father?  Tell me about him."

"Roshi!  I swear you are impossible!  If you were any more impossible you would have never been birthed, you would have gotten stuck in the womb and died there!"

"So what that means with the exception of the died there part you did get stuck in the womb?"  Roshi shot back.

Ichigo felt her jaw drop.  "How dare you!"

The arrival of a platter of ribs, chicken, chili, seasoned potatoes, several steaks and various other southwestern foods stopped Ichigo's tirade.

"Well you can dig in, you might as well start talking cause there's no way you can out eat me!"  Roshi replied as a second patter arrived for him.

The two of them ate in silence for a long while before Ichigo finally gave in and broke the silence.  "Do you think your family will go to Saiya if we beat the Changeling that is coming here?"

Roshi looked up at her like he was trying to make sure she had asked what he thought she had asked.

"As of right now that is the plan.  When, not if we beat the Changeling that is coming here we will go kick the rest of them off Saiya and we can all return to our normal lives."

'And we can all return to our normal lives?  Was that anger in his voice?  Hmmmm.'  Ichigo pondered to herself as she ate silently for a while.

"Ok, I'll tell you about the Pendant since you probably will need to know this anyway.  I am now seventeen.  My birthday is on the tenth day of the sixth month."

Roshi gave her a quizzical look.  "But that was even before you landed hear on Earth!"

"No it wasn't.  In Earthen months I think it would be in about your eight month sometime.  Saiya has thirty-six hour days.  Our year is roughly the same length as your year is.  We have eight months in a year and 243 days in a year."

"Ok, that's interesting.  So what's the big deal with the seventeenth birthday then?"

Ichigo felt the blood drain from her face.  'he really doesn't know anything!' She realized.  "I can't believe how little you know about Saiyan customs and well our people in general.  How can you call yourself a Saiyan?"

Roshi gnawed the meat off of a rib and then shook the rib at her.  "Ichigo we've been through this already.  Goku forgot everything he ever knew and he was sent here as a baby anyway, and Vegeta never really said much of anything.  We call ourselves Saiyans because physically and biologically we are more Saiyan than..."  Roshi stopped dead as a new platter of food was brought in.  "than we are human.  Why do you think I'm asking all these questions?  Sure I want to know more about you and you sure seem to be trying real hard to hide things, but at the same time I want to learn about my own culture.  It would be knowledge that my family has never had."

Ichigo had to give him that.  'I maybe have been holding back more then I aught to have.  Guess it can't hurt to talk.'  She decided.

"Seventeen in the age of majority.  I am an adult now.  I am now old enough to be queen." She hesitated and hugged herself.  "In fact, since I don't expect my father to still be alive when I get back to Saiya, I probably am Queen in everything but coronation."

"And you needed the Pendant for the Coronation?"  Roshi asked deep in thought.

"Well no, not technically, but with people like Banana making up the majority of the military it wouldn't surprise me if they would pull something like that."  Ichigo said while feeling the bile bubble up her throat.

Roshi looked up suddenly.  "Jerks like that make up the majority of your warriors?"

Ichigo realized she had said too much,  "No, I mean, well not in the way you are thinking.  You see, I am the first ah Crown Princess in over well um 1,241 years.  There are a lot of warriors that don't think I'm capable of leading as well as my father."  Ichigo said to her lap.  She wasn't even conscious of it, but the fact was she was ashamed at how poorly she had conveyed herself the past few months.  Her own self doubt was her largest anchor.

"Stupid.  Banana was a traitor and an idiot.  I am sure that when the time comes you will make an excellent leader."  Roshi said with just a bit too much force to be accepted as being honest.

"Don't lie.  I have a lot to learn.  You for one have shown me just how presumptuous I am over and over again, but I never learn.

Roshi grinned and shook his head.  "At least you admit that.  Besides, this isn't Saiya, you're out of your element.  I am sure you wouldn't be so distraught on Saiya."

Ichigo felt herself smile a bit and she looked up at Roshi.  "I guess."

Well as long as we are talking, care to tell me more about Your Trial of Passage?"

Ichigo grimaced inwardly, "Oh, I guess.  I don't like talking about it really.  It wasn't a very good time in my life."

"Why not?"

Ichigo closed her eyes and thought.  "Because, because it's when... when Banana tried to kill me the first time!"  She said suddenly while looking at Roshi in shock.  "It, oh, I... OH!"

Roshi was looking concerned.  "Ichigo what's wrong?  What are you trying to say?"

"It's just that... I just realized something and it makes a lot of things more clear now.  I think I understand something that has dogged me for a long time."

"Well, do you care to share?  I'd love to hear what you have to say."

"I... I guess.  Well, the whole story starts with Banana I guess, or maybe with my mother.  Anyway, I am an only child.  My father is very devoted to the memory of my mother and has always refused to remarry.  See, if he had a male offspring I wouldn't be in a position to become Queen, and bigots like Banana wouldn't have a reason to hate me so much.  Well, there are two Trials of Passage each year.  Once a child has reached the age of twelve, they must take the next available trial, or they can never become part of the military."  Ichigo looked up and took a drink before continueing.

"When it became time for me to take my trial, I was assigned a region, we all are.  I remember Banana giving me my region and mocking me for having such an easy trial because were my region was there is a tropical savanna with abundant food and plenty of shelter.  I have always hated it when people think I got off easy because of my status or because of my gender so I f..found S.Suikan and traded regions with him.  He had gotten a region far to the north with huge glaciers and mountains and very little food.  I almost froze and before I found a way to make myself decent clothing.  Anyway, trading regions isn't normally done, but it isn't forbidden either."  Ichigo continued while a few tears welled in her eyes.

"During the trial, we are expected to find several objects that had been placed in the region and live there for the next six months of our lives before returning home.  There are many that have spent years looking for their objects before being welcomed home.  To survive and to succeed are the goals.  Those that do are seen as being intuitive and intelligent, and strong enough to join the Warriors."

"When I got back home, I remember everyone being in shock at seeing me.  They all thought I was dead.  Someone had hidden a bomb of some sort in on of the objects I was supposed to have retrieved.  When Suikan found it... it blew up and some people that lived not far from there saw the explosion and alerted the Guards.  No one knew I had traded.  They were all sure I was was... dead."

"So what happened?"  Roshi asked trying to keep her talking.

"I found Banana first when I got back home.  I remember he seemed almost angry that I was there.  I never put it together, but he was the one who gave me the region, so he would have known were I was supposed to be.  Since he never had any respect for me and in many cases openly questioned my right and ability to take the throne I should have known.  I should have known.  I swore I would avenge Suikan, and now, I have.  I did without even knowing I was..."

Ichigo looked up and was surprised to see such a genuine look of compassion on Roshi's face.  "Suikan was very important to you wasn't he?"

Ichigo nodded yes.  "He, he was my friend, really, my only good friend for a long time.  He was Meron's son.  Meron is my father's personal guard and he is also more or less the General of the armies.  He and my father were friends from their youth and it seemed destined that we would carry on in our father's footsteps.  We were children and we didn't know what it meant really, but we agreed to be arranged to marry once we were of the age."  So really, had things gone as planned I would have been wed on my birthday and... and Suikan would have eventually been... King."

"Meron was there when I was escorted to my father.  My father had been grieving and had not been seeing people and he yelled at Banana for disturbing him.  And... and then he saw me... and I didn't understand what was going on at the time, no one would tell me, and he was overjoyed.  And then I told them I had traded regions with Suikan because I didn't want anyone to think I had gotten off easy, and I wanted to know if he was back yet cause he owed me."  Ichigo looked down.  "I'll never forget the look on Meron's face.  Never, as long as I live."

"My father took me and let me select the Sartan, and I cooked it, but it was a really hollow celebration.  I always thought Banana hated me because I lived and Suikan had died, but now... remembering what was said and how he acted.  He had already tried to kill me to ensure I wouldn't ever take the throne.  I can't believe I didn't see it sooner.  Banana as was his place within the guards lead the investigation into the murder.  No wonder they never found anything!"  Ichigo pounded her fist into the table and Roshi flinched as the table cracked under the strain, but didn't collapse.

"I'm sorry."

Ichigo looked up.  "It isn't your fault.  You didn't do anything but ask a question and I think it's good that I have figured out what I have."

"Ok, well, I just have one question, if you were twelve then technically it could have been what I thought it was on your... thing..."

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh.  "You just won't let that drop will you.  Roshi, you know next to nothing about Saiyans.  The average Saiyan doesn't hit puberty until they are fourteen.  It most assuredly wasn't what you seem to be so squeamish about, but I am NOT going to talk about that anymore so don't ask.  Go bug Slip about biology since she seems to know everything."

"Ok, just one more question, where did the blood come from then?"  Roshi asked still curious.

Ichigo shook her head, "one night while I slept, I was attacked by a kakian ice beast.  It is a big clawed feathery lizard thing that lives up there."  Ichigo felt herself flush and glared at Roshi.  Since you never forget a thing, you no doubt remember the scar I have below my left breast?"  She said while absentmindedly rubbing her side were she indicated.  

"It caught me in the side and got it's claw caught on one of my ribs.  Had it been a bit lower or at a slightly different angle it would have gutted me or punctured my lungs.  I'm lucky to be alive.  I used my Choloe to stanch the blood flow until I found a way to sew myself back together."

Roshi looked at her incredulously.  "You gave yourself stitches?"

"Well it was either that or get gangrene or something!"

Roshi shuddered.  "No, you don't understand.  I would never have been able to do that.  I can't stand needles or things like that.  I probably would have just bled to death."

Ichigo smirked.  "I always said you were a pansy."

"Oh well, this pansy is having a fairly good day.  Not only did I get my free story, but you ate more then me, so I get to beat you up for it too."  He said as he winked at her.

Ichigo's mouth fell open as she looked at her empty platters and then at Roshi's not quite so numerous empty platters.  "Why you jerk!"

* * * ** * * * ** * ** ** * * * 

End of this chapter…

  
Sorry that this chapter was almost no action and pure gab...  I needed to fill in some more of Ichigo's history and now is a lot better time then later ;)

Sorry this took so long to get out.

Special thanks to everyone for reading, Please Post a review, your comments are very valuable to me.

This chapter is dedicated to Kitsune Maxwell, I know you are having a hard time Kitsune... Just remember that everyone goes though tough times.  Your friends will always be there for you. :)

Oh, To Squatmonkey... your eating comments were well taken and may or may not be right, I am going to assume all Saiyans can eat like bottomless pits, Goku just is a bottomless pit.  Anyway the eating contest was long ago planned out so.. yeah...

Once again thanks all

(I promise to get the next chapter up before Christmas!)


	38. Girl trouble did I say trouble? LOL

Girl trouble... (did I say trouble? LOL)

Monday, June 23

Thawap!!!

"Ouch what did you do that for?"  Roshi asked as he woke up to see Kit standing near his bed with a rolled up newspaper in her hands.

"You deserve it.  And since when did you sleep in?  It's after 10 am!"  Kit said as she poked the newspaper into his stomach.

"I deserve it?  Kit you have no idea how hectic the past few months have been since we last talked."  Roshi held up his hands to forestall any comments.  "And before you say anything, it has been months for me.  Now, three questions, How did you get into my bedroom?  Why are you here?  And why do you have that scowl on your face?"

Kit shook her head.  "I got in by talking to your mother.  She told me to go wake you up."  She then unrolled the newspaper.  I am here because I want to know honestly if there is something going on with you and that other girl and if you are going to be man enough to talk to Mariah before you rip her heart apart, or if you are just daft and stupid."

Roshi sat up to grab the paper from her hands.  "What are you talking about?  Oh, OH, this is great!  Stupid dumb paparazzi!"  He said as he saw the picture of himself and Ichigo walking to their table at _Charlie's_ on the front cover of the tabloid.

"I'm going to guess daft.  Are you an idiot?  Mariah's already thinking you hate her for skipping out on your date last Friday, and now you've taken what's her name to the two most exclusive restaurants on the planet!  Are you stupid or just really cold hearted?"

Roshi got out of bed very glad to have slept in more than his boxers, and looked at Kit.  "Now just a second here!  I'm getting rather fed up with your attitude!  It isn't my fault I had to skip our date and you know it." 

Kit's fur fluffed a bit as she stood higher on her toes and glared at Roshi.  "I'm not blaming you, but you haven't done much more than the minimum.  You leave her with quite the shock on Friday.  I mean the fact that you are not exactly who you always seemed to be isn't something she should just take like it's nothing.  And then you only tried once to call her yesterday and now that picture is running in three of the tabloids!  What do you think she's going to think?!?"

"I think..." Roshi started.  "I don't know what she'll think, I dare say she won't be too happy."

Kit shook her head.  "No, she probably won't.  So, what's with you and the space princess?"

Roshi waved his hand away, "nothing, I can assure you there is absolutely nothing going on.  AND even if there was, it wouldn't work.  So stop worrying about things that will never ever happen.  Besides, don't you have your own life to live?  I mean you seem so busy worrying about me and Mariah but why aren't you out looking for some guy to sweep you off your feet?  And DON'T tell me any bull about being the only Vulpine in Satan City.  There is a fairly large group in West City and if you can show up here in the middle of the morning, you can go there too." 

Kit opened and closed her mouth a few times as if trying to figure out something to say... then she just stuck her long tongue out at him.  "I don't really think I'm ready for dating yet.  Besides, who said I had to date to be happy?"

Roshi rolled his eyes.  "Right, she says as she lives vicariously through her friends by trying to be the perfect little match maker."

Even after knowing her for as long as he had, Roshi still got a kick out of watching her emotions play across her ears and fur.  Kit's ears dropped faster then her mouth when she puffed up in denial.  "I am not living vicariously through you!  I just don't want a boyfriend."

"Right."  Roshi said as he walked up to smirk in her face.

Kit huffed and poked her finger into his chest.  "Ugh!  Go shower you reek!"  

Roshi's jaw dropped as he sucked in air trying to think up a comeback.  "You know most people seem to think I smell good."

Kit wrinkled up her face and acted like she was gagging.  "Yeah but your nasty Saiyan pheromones work on most people.  I'm immune and they reek."

"Oh really? Well then!"  Roshi said before he deftly reached out and grabbed her head cupping her ears, which he knew she absolutely hated and pulled her nose into his armpit.

She tried to knee him in the crotch, but he let go of her head and blocked her knee.

Kit lurched back.  "Don't EVER do that again you slimy stinky nasty ogre!"

Roshi stuck his tongue out at her.  "Teach you to wake me up in the morning!"

"Gah!!! I swear you are impossible!" 

Roshi smirked.  "I know, that's why you like me.  Now since I'm not about to get sidetracked, you really don't need to be playing matchmaker Kit."

Kit glared at him.  "Well someone does, you are about as clueless as they come."

"I am not clueless!"

Kit held up the tabloid.  "You're not huh?  You have absolutely no idea how far and how fast Mariah has fallen for you?  Do you have any idea how much watching you fly away and realizing that you weren't going to be there for her Friday night hurt her?  Or how much she'll be hurt when she sees this?  And she will see it, no doubt some jerk of a reporter will shove it in her face and ask her how she feels about it."  Kit stopped talking and glared at Roshi.  "Oh no, you are NOT giving me that innocent look.  That might work with people that don't know you but I'm not falling for it!"

"Ok, I admit it I'm not exactly the most romantic guy on the planet, but I have a bit to worry about at the moment!"  Roshi said as he flung up his hands in exasperation.

"And here I thought there was nothing that was more powerful than love."  Kit quipped.

Roshi blushed a bit, "Well sorry, but fairy tales normally don't include the total destruction of the planet and the death of everyone if Prince Charming fails to sweep the fair maiden off her feet!"

"And who said he was boring and not the slightest bit melodramatic last year when the drama coach wanted you to be in the spring play?" Kit rolled her eyes.

"Kit!  She wanted me to play Romeo and there is no way I could possibly pull off being the slightest bit believable delivering those lines to the likes of Amy Priss.  You know she's been hot for me because of my money since we were like a day into the first year so school!"

"Actually I don't, I haven't lived here my entire life, but you are avoiding the subject again.  You need to go talk to Mariah and clear things up before the tabloids get a hold of her.  Or do you want her to start jumping to conclusions?  She has a right to know what's going on and you really aught to take her to the dance that's going on this Wednesday.  Here I got you tickets."  Kit said while she reached into a pocket and then handed Roshi two tickets.

"KIT!  I can't!"

"Yes you can, it is relatively simple.  You fly your lazy chicken butt over to her house and you ask her to accompany you to the dance.  It isn't that hard."

"Kit, I don't have time for this right now!"

Kit swung the tabloid at him.  "Oh, so you have time to take the Princess to the second most exclusive restaurant on the Planet, but you don't have time to take your girlfriend to a dance?  Not to be offensive but that really stinks even worse then you do.  Please, do tell me why this girl who you've known for all of a few weeks is more important to you than your Girlfriend."

Roshi grabbed the tabloid from her and shredded it.  "That's it!  I've tried to be calm but you are really getting on my nerves!  First, one date does not make us a couple.  Mariah is a very good friend and there may be more there and I certainly think there is but stop making such a big deal about it.  Second, for all of her faults, Ichigo is a Saiyan who grew up as a Saiyan and knows what it means to be a Saiyan.  You have your Furzete and your own family holidays and a good deal of your own culture.  If you blame me for trying to get her to open up and tell me about my own people and that was what I was doing at Charlie's.  Trust me there isn't a better way to get info out of one of us then enticing us with food.  Anyway if you blame me for that then you are an awfully large bigot in your own right.  Third, I'm not being melodramatic when I say that I have the weight of the world on my back right now.  How many people can honestly say that people EXPECT them to be able to save the lives of every person on the planet from something like a Changeling?  Sure, my dad will be there, and Yoshi, and Tee and Boxers, but I'm not an idiot.  I just got reamed by my dad for skipping out on five months of training in the ROSAT cause they all expect me to be the one that saves the day."

"I'm sorry but while there is nothing I would like to do more then go and sweep Mariah off her feet and give her everything in her heart's desire, I know that if I do that and ignore the threat and the problems facing us then I might as well be letting the Changeling kill everyone!"

"If you can't understand that and you can't understand why being decent to Ichigo when she fears she has abandoned her own people and that they will all be dead when she gets back home then... Then I don't know.  I would think you of all people coming from a dead world would understand!"

"And if Mariah is so jealous that she can't trust me with another girl even when my only intentions are saving EVERYONE'S lives then maybe she isn't the person I think she is.  I admit I haven't been the most forth coming and I know I haven't done everything I could, but I have done everything I was able to so please try to understand when I say I really honestly DON'T want to talk about it!"

With that Roshi turned around and walked out to his balcony and flew away.  He needed time to cool down.  Never before had he ever had the temptation to just slug any of his friends but Kit had almost deserved it.  The rational part of his brain reminded him that if he had, they would have been picking pieces of her out of the walls for decades.  The rational part of his brain didn't help his mood any.

* * *

10 pm that night,

_Dear Roshi,_

_Kit told me about your conversation this morning.  I've never seen her so upset in my life.  I honestly think she thinks you hate her now.  Please, for my sake forgive her, she was only trying to help._

_I am sorry.  I don't really know how to put my thoughts into words right now.  I guess I have been jealous.  You were right to be angry with the two of us as Kit and I have been quite selfish. _

_In my defense, I would like to say that when you left on Friday it changed things.  I know we can never again have whatever it was we had before.  It is not easy to accept that the person you thought you knew your entire life is not at all who you thought he was.  How could you keep all that from me?  Don't you trust me?  You rebuked Kit today saying if I couldn't trust you then I must not be the person you thought I was.  I don't know how to respond to that.  Should I trust you?  You obviously don't or didn't trust me.  _

_Why couldn't you trust me?  I would never do anything to hurt you.  You are and you have always been my Knight in Armor, my hero, my best friend, the person I turn to when I need help.  Why couldn't you trust me?  I sit here and I think and I wonder if I ever really even knew you._

_I don't like wondering that.  It hurts.  I thought, no, I still know I love you.  You are the kindest, sweetest, nicest, person I have ever met.  You don't judge people by their money or their fame, but by their heart and soul.  Please Roshi forgive me.  Please let me in.  I want to know the real you.  Please._

_Your friend forever,_

_Love_

_Mariah_

Roshi read the letter again.  He had lost count how many times that was.  His day had started off bad and gotten worse as it went.  Now he had Mariah's letter, and he had yet one more reason to kick himself.

_The Journal of Son Roshi,  
June 23, 1291_

_I am an ass.  If one were to have a contest to find the largest ass on the planet, they would need to find a new way to measure the magnitude of my assness._

_I cracked.  Kit showed up and flung in my face some of the things I had been worrying about for the past few months while I trained and I cracked._

_I hate it.  Kit and Mariah have been two of my closest friends forever, and I couldn't bring myself to trust Mariah enough to tell her who I really am.  What does that tell me about myself?  Why couldn't I trust her?_

_I can't help but think about Ichigo...  She's told me more about her life then I ever really freely told either Kit or Mariah.  Why is it that I could gain her trust so easily, yet I was so unwilling to trust my closest friends?_

_Mariah called me her Knight in armor...  I have to admit I like the sound of that.  I have never thought of myself as a hero.  I don't think I am a hero.  Heroes are made of sterner stuff than me.  Heroes are... Heroes are people like Goku.  The stories about him and the journal entries about him, he never doubted himself.  He never backed down.  _

_I'm not a hero.  I'm a coward.  I'm afraid to admit I love Mariah.  So I hurt her instead.  I'm afraid I will fail when the Changeling gets here, so I get mad at Kit and blame her for things that she has no control over.  I'm afraid.  I am a coward._

_I don't understand how Ichigo can do it.  Her culture is so different.  From what I gather, women are almost second class citizens.   In a culture based on physical ability it does make some sense, as women are normally smaller and not nearly as strong as men, but it is so skewed that she almost hates herself for being female.  She tries so hard to prove she is worthy of the respect of a bunch of bigots that I can't help but feel sorry for her.  Her life has been one tragedy followed by another, and yet, she is able to face the world. _

_Her only fear is failure, and yet her fear drives her to strive harder.  To be more brave, to be more than she is.  _

_I feel sorry for her, yet at the same time I envy her.  My fear holds me back.  My fear stops me and is a break on my dreams.  My fear hurts others.  In the end, her fear may just save her people._

_Gah, I cannot believe I am actually writing this drivel.  I should be ashamed of myself.  It is not like there will be anyone around to read this if we fail.  Man isn't this going to be a fun read fifty years after my death._

_I can picture it now, some future Son:  Wow, I'm related to a wussy pansy boy melodramatic moron..._

_I guess it's easier to ponder how much I have come to actually respect Ichigo these past few months we spent in the ROSAT than to think about what is really nagging me right now._

_I'm a fool.  I knew I could trust Mariah, but I choose not to, and my choices hurt her.  I never wanted to hurt her.  I... I am fairly certain I love her.  I mean, I've been her friend forever and...  I am such a nitwit when it comes to emotions._

_I feel terrible.  I blew up at Kit this morning and then I went and sparred all day.  Ichigo's still pissed at me for knocking her out Saturday.  It really isn't my fault.  She wanted me to show her how strong I really was.  So I powered up and then maxed-out my Kaioken and she said that I wasn't as strong as I acted and tried to hit me.  So I blocked and hit her in the stomach.  Not my fault I knocked her out... anyway, I seem to be drifting off topic again.  _

_I need to make it up to Mariah.  I think I'll go find Kit in the morning and get those tickets to the dance.  I just wish Mariah had a Saiyaman watch so I could maker her a perfect dress like Gohan did for Videl that one time.  Oh well, I am sure she'll look like an angel._

_Yes, I can put off sparing with my dad and the guys and Ichigo for a night and actually enjoy myself.  As I said to Ichigo, what's the point of saving the world if you aren't saving hope, and joy, and fun, and a life to save?_

_Son Roshi_

Roshi closed his journal and looked at his watch.  It was nearly midnight.  'Damn, I need to get some sleep.  I have a very long day tomorrow.'  Roshi thought as he slowly walked to his bed.

"I swear, if my life were any more complicated... No not going to jinx myself I am not finishing that thought."  Roshi slapped himself on the forehead and flopped into bed.

Knock, Knock, Knock!  

Roshi looked over to his balcony to see Ichigo standing there knocking on the glass.

Roshi glared at his ceiling.  "Dende, I hate you.  I didn't finish the sentence but you had to have fun anyway."

He got up and opened the door.  "What do you want?"

"I want you to actually fix the thermostat in that house.  You said it would warm up in there."

Roshi sighed and reached over to his bedside table for a can of nuts.  "Here, eat some of these cashews and calm down.  I'll see what I can do."

'Yay me, she's cold and I'm the one she complains to.  And I thought Slip was bad.  What is it with women?  I'm hot. I'm cold.  Snuggle with me Roshi...'

"What are you grimacing about?  You're not the one sleeping in an ice box."

Roshi turned to look at her.  "Oh please, did you or did you not just tell me that you spent about eight and a half months of your life living on a damn glacier during your Trial thingy?  I doubt that a broken ac unit is cold for you."

"On my trial I was able to go out and kill things and make myself furs and boots and things to stay warm.  I can't even find a quilt in that house!"

"Well sorry your highness but I really don't see why it is my problem.  If the house is to damn cold for you, you can always sleep out under the stars, but I suppose that's too harsh for poor little you now isn't it?"

THWUNK!  The empty cashew can hit him in the side of the face.

"What the heck was that for?"

"You're being a jerk!  That's what that was for.  What the heck is your problem?"

"You."  Roshi said as he walked through the door and into Pan's house.

"Me?  ME?  Do you think I wanted to be here?  DO you think I wan any of this.  Do you think I could control any of this?"

Roshi punched several buttons on the thermostat's panel and then turned back to her.  "No, but I think you're a pain in the rear all the same.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with the thermostat.  It isn't even cold in here."

"NOT EVEN COLD?!? It's warmer in the walk in refrigerator!"  Ichigo yelled pointing to the kitchen.

"Then sleep in there for Kami's sake!  Or maybe you could just gather some of the bedding from the other rooms and stop whining like a little baby!"

"I AM NOT WHINING YOU JERK!"

"Tell me when I care."  Roshi said before he slammed the door in her face and flew back to his room.

"JACKASS!!!" Ichigo yelled out the door before slamming it again.

Roshi grimaced but smiled inwardly.  'After what I said there is no way her pride will let her do anything but sleep in that house.  Which is exactly what I want...'  Roshi thought as he wiped his forehead and realized she had cut him with the can.  "I will never understand how I can have boulders dropped on me and come out unscathed but something like a piece of paper or a tin can can cut me."  He mumbled to himself as he crawled into bed and promptly fell asleep.

Tuesday, 8 am

Roshi dressed in his normal street clothing and didn't even stop to eat breakfast before he attempted to leave in the morning.

"Roshi, what are you doing?"  Goshu said as he caught up with Roshi a few steps outside the front door of the house.

"I'm going into town, I have some things I need to take care of."

"Ooookay, ah, this isn't going to take all day like your little expedition with Ichigo that cost you 5 months of training time is it?

Ichigo choose that moment to walk out of Pan's house.  Curious as to what was going on she walked over to the two.  "Roshi, what are you wearing?"

Roshi grimaced at her, and started pointing at his clothing.  "See these are called jeans, and this is a tee-shirt.  They're what I normally wear when I go to town."

"Well Excuse me for asking jerk!" 

Roshi just shrugged and walked past her as Tee and Boxers landed.

"Shoot, and here we thought we would be early."  Boxers said as he walked over to the group.  So, what's the schedule for the day?

Goshu raised an eyebrow, "I don't know what all everyone is doing, I had planned on having everyone go off against Roshi this morning, but it seems Roshi thinks there are more important things to him then training today."

Roshi turned around, "Oh, please, you are not going to lay the guilt trip on me.  Look, I trained for seven months in the ROSAT and I really didn't learn a thing, you yourself said you doubted I would see any significant increase in ability without going Super Saiyan.  I know enough about our past to note that you have to have a need not just a want to get to that level.  Well, I need some time with my friends being normal ok?"

"You arrogant idiot!"  Ichigo yelled.  "So just because you think you've reached some plateau or something you don't think training is necessary?  Well go then, spend time with your stupid pathetic friends.  A whole lot of good it will do you if we fail to stop the Changeling!"

"Exactly!  Not that I'm giving up here, but no one said we were going to beat the Changeling!  Call me selfish but I want to have some fun before I have to go save the world or die trying!  I'm sure you would have done the same, so don't act like I'm such a horrid person!"

"Oh thanks!  Just rub it in my face that I probably won't ever see my friends and family again!  You're a real ass you know that Roshi!"

Roshi opened his mouth to say something, but then just shook his head and flew away towards Satan City.

Ichigo shot a ki blast past him and then stormed into Beth's garden.

Goshu looked to Boxers and Tee, "alright, you two need to come with me, something is up and I want to know why and what for.

"Ah, well um, I think whatever's bothering Roshi has to do with whatever Kit said to him yesterday, he's been acting odd since then."  Boxers replied as they walked towards the house.

"I agree, he's lashing out for seemingly no reason and it isn't helping anything.  Especially when he lashes out at Ichigo."  Goshu said.

"You want us to go find her?"  Boxers asked.

Goshu pondered for a moment.  "Yeah, go fuse and then have a good spar with her.  That will hopefully get her mind off what Roshi said.  Well, at least for a little while it might."

* * *

'I am an ass!  I am an ass!  I am an ass!'  Roshi thought to himself as he flew towards Satan City.  "Great, that went just great.  I can't believe how utterly stupid I am.  Way to go Roshi, work for months to gain her trust and then use it to mock her.  Aren't you just soo proud of yourself?"

"Damn! Damn! DAMN! I wanted to make her focus on her training not focus on her own fears.  I have to be the world's largest idiot.  She thinks she betrayed her people so naturally I rub it in her face.  Gahhh!  Even if she does work harder now and actually focus on her abilities she'll never trust me again!  This is just wonderful!  I swear fate hates me.  If Kit ever talks about fate again I'm going to kill her!"

Roshi was still verbally bashing himself when he landed near Kit's house.  Kit's mother let him in and then went and called Kit.

A few minutes later Kit stumbled down the stairs in a oversized jogging suit that was entirely too big for her and made her look like she was drowning in it.

"Roshi, do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah it's time to wake up and give me those tickets so I can go make up with Mariah."

Kit went from groggy and out of it to hyper and fully awake in about a heart beat.  "Oh that's wonderful!"  She practically screamed as she bounced up and down a few times before running over and hugging Roshi.

Roshi didn't hug people.  Roshi was uncomfortable.  "Kit, could you please not do that?"  He said as he tried to peal her off of him.  It really isn't that big of a deal."

"Not a big deal?  Roshi, Mariah's been doing nothing but moping around for the past day acting like her world just died.  This will make her day!"

Roshi sighed and held Kit at arm's length.  "She's really been that down?"

Kit frowned and shook her head.  "Yes, I told you she loves you.  Even though I think she understands what you're going through, she's still hurt that you didn't come talk or do anything with her for the past few days.  She misses you."

"I know, and I could have been more... more worthy of her affection.  Which is why I'm here.  So do you have the tickets?  I want to get them to her before she gets to work."

"Oh, she took today and tomorrow off.  She said she just didn't feel like working.  So she's probably at home in bed playing dead or something."

Once again, Roshi was feeling worse and worse as the conversation with Kit went on.  "Great, So I'm feeling even worse now, could you please give me the tickets?"

"Oh, ah, yeah, just a second I'll go get them."  Kit said before she turned and ran up the stairs.

Roshi almost laughed, Kit's tail was bobbing from side to side as she ran up the stairs.  'Right, not living vicariously through us... what a joke!'  Roshi thought to himself.  After being picked on in school about it, Kit almost never allowed her tail to even move let alone wag when she was happy.

She came back down the stairs and gave him the tickets.  "When you going over?  Can I tag along and watch?"

"No... NO!  Kit!"

Kit's ears blushed.  "Sorry, it is just that..."

"Just that you're living vicariously and you want to know everything that is going on!"

"AH!  Well I never... Hey stop that you!"

Roshi reached over and messed up her hair to shut her up.

"I'm going over now,  I know I can't stop you from showing up, but could you please just give us some time alone?"

"Oooowwww Roshi wants time alone... you sly man you!"

"Kit!  That isn't funny.  Now maybe if I was Carge, but really!"

Kit laughed.  "I know, I know, but can't I pick on you a little?"

"No, picking on me is express idly forbidden."  Roshi said with a smirk.  "Anyway I need to get going, catch you later."  He said as he left.

Roshi quickly ran over to Mariah's and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, but he could sense her in there, so he kept knocking.

"Go away!  We don't want whatever it is you're selling!"  Mariah yelled through the door.

"Are you sure?  I'm selling a night of fun and entertainment with me for the low price of opening your door and talking to me!"  Roshi yelled back.

Mariah opened the door in a wrinkled shirt and a pair of shorts and looked at him like she was trying to make sure she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing.  "Roshi?"

"Yes?"

"Oh! Come in! I... I wasn't expecting anyone."

"I know, Kit said you were a bit down.  I'm sorry I've been a real jerk."

"No you haven't it is all my fault.  I'm the one who was being selfish."  Mariah said looking at the ground like she was ashamed.

"No you weren't now I'm here to have some fun with you and possibly Kit since she'll probably be here in a few minutes anyway, so tell you what.  I'll wait here and you can go shower and get dressed, and then we are going to go have some fun."

"Really?  You, you want to spend time with me?"

Roshi felt his jaw drop.  "Mariah!  What ever gave you the idea that I didn't want to spend time with you?"

Mariah looked up and then blushed furiously.  "Well, you... Oh, never mind I'm just being an idiot."

"You're never an idiot Mariah."

Mariah looked up and smiled.  For the first time that day, the day wasn't looking so bad after all. 

"Um, ah, I guess I'll go shower now um you can make yourself at home, ah we don't have much but ah..."

"Mariah, you know I don't care.  I'll be over here waiting."

Mariah blushed again and ran down the to her room and then across to the bathroom to shower.

* * *

Kit showed up before Mariah was done getting ready so the three of them ended up heading out in search of Niko and Carge so the whole gang could do something together.

As they approached the mall several people started shouting questions at Roshi.

"Hey Playboy, are these two the flavor of the day or you still looking for better?"

"Mr. Son, what do you have to say about your romantic involvement with... Oh look she's Mariah Smart!  Mariah are the two of you a couple?  Do you have anything to say about those pictures that ran in the Times?"

"Yo, Son, you have anything to add about your mishandling of the Son Foundation?  Your father made it sound like you would be punished, what did he do to you?"

Roshi tried to ignore them as they walked into the mall.  "why do reporters always seem to know how to find me now?"  He asked to no one in particular.

"How do you put up with them?"  Mariah asked.  "I just about went nuts trying to get away from them the other day."

"Mostly I just ignore them.  They're like wolves with no teeth.  They feed in packs, but if you ignore them their bark is a lot worse then their bite."  Roshi said as they walked up to the fountain were Niko and Carge were waiting.

"Hey, what's up dude?  So, who's the hot student of your dad's?  You should have brought her with you, she's hot!"  Carge said as he got up to walk over slap Roshi on the back.

Mariah seemed to shrink back, so Roshi reached out and pulled her to him.  "Carge, her name is Ichigo and she's just a friend of the family.  Please tell me you didn't believe those stories in the tabloids."

Carge looked from Mariah to Niko who was glaring at him quite openly before he replied, "ah, no didn't believe it for a second, I was just picking on ya dude!"

"Right,"  Roshi said as he saw the reporters closing in again.  "Well, let's get going I have a lot to say and the day is on my debit card."  He looked at Mariah, "And NO one is going to complain about it.  I have the cash I might as well spend it on the people I really care about."

A reporter overheard the comment and forced his way in front of Roshi.  "So, young man you admit that you don't care about the people the Son Foundation is spending money on?  Don't you have any regrets about the people your irresponsible behavior hurt last week?"

Roshi stopped and glared at the man.  "Those words were taken out of context and you know it.  If you want to put words in my mouth go right ahead.  My father can destroy you just as easily as Ima Gossip."

"Is that a threat?  What do you have to be afraid of?"

Roshi turned to look at Kit and Mariah.  "Remind me to never go near a Mall again as long as I live."  He then turned to the Reporter.  "I have nothing to be afraid of from you, except maybe a total loss of privacy.  I made a mistake last week.  People got hurt.  I'm sorry.  That was not my intention in any way, and I am sorry that I had to learn the hard way.  But I have learned.  The Son Foundation is going to be better in the future because of my mistake.  Now if you don't mind I would like to pretend for at least a short period of time that I am a normal person and have fun with my friends.  Good day."

The reporter didn't give up.  "Mr. Son, a few more questions please..."

"Good day, I'm not answering any more."

"Dende they're like sharks!"  Mariah said as they all piled into Roshi's hover van.

"Just ignore them.  So where are we off to gang?"  Roshi asked as he started to drive around to ditch the news vans that were following them.

The gang all ended up out at the ruins of Mt. Frypan again for the afternoon.  It was a good day and they all had fun, but like all things, it had to end sometime.

Mariah was the last person Roshi took home.

"I'm sorry we didn't get to do much alone today."

Mariah smiled, "It's ok.  I'm just glad I got to spend the time with you that I did.  The day was great fun."

"Well, can I make it up to you for not doing much just with you?"

Mariah blushed, "Um, maybe... What do you have in mind?"

"Ah,"  Roshi stumbled over the words.  "Ah, ah, well, um, see, well, Kit got me these tickets to tomorrow's dance.  You know when they open the summer festival down by the beach?  Well I was wondering if... if you..."

"Oh Roshi I'd love to!"  Mariah said as she jumped on him and pulled him into a hug.

Roshi didn't know what to do, so he just stroked her back and let her hug him.

"I wish I could stay like this forever."  Mariah whispered in his ear.

"I know."

She kissed him on the cheek.  "I love you Roshi.  Don't ever forget that."

Roshi smiled and practically choked on his words.  "I... I know.  I won't."

She pulled away, "so, when do you pick me up tomorrow?"

"Ah, well, I'm going to have to do some training tomorrow, so ah,  How about we meet at the Beachside Park?  It will be easier then if I had to pick you up and avoid the reporters that will probably be at your house again since they saw you with me today."

Mariah smiled.  "Ah, well, ok, I guess that works.  Now I just have to figure out what to wear!"

Roshi laughed.  "Oh, well, that's easy.  I gave Kit a sizable amount of cash and the instructions to get you and take you out shopping tomorrow.  No buts or excuses.  The night will be on me."

Mariah looked subdued.  "If you insist.  But I'm still getting the cheapest one.  You don't need to spend money on me to make me happy Roshi.

"I know, but it isn't for you.  I'm doing it for really selfish reasons.  See, if you get all decked out in the fanciest most beautiful gown, it won't make you any more beautiful, but all the other ladies out there will see it and be jealous and it will make me look all that much better you see."  He winked at her.

Mariah started laughing.  "Roshi you are such a, a, card!   Don't you ever take anything seriously?"

Roshi sobered immediately.  "Yes, which is why I want tomorrow night to be perfect.  I don't know when the Changeling will arrive.  And when it does, well...  My family will either save the world, or die trying.  I don't want to scare you, but I'm being honest when I say that if we fail... there won't be anymore dances or malls or days to have fun, because there won't be anymore anything."

"Roshi, I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."

Roshi tickled her in the side, "No you didn't!  I know, it is ok, really.  But I need to go.  I've goofed off enough today."

"Oh, alright.  Well, I'll see you tomorrow night."  Mariah said as she got out of the van and ran to her house past the various reporters who were now staked out on the street.

"Whoo, I'm glad the van has one way glass.  All I need is someone printing the two of us kissing or something.  I hate reporters."

* * *

Wednesday, June 25 4:00 pm

It had been a hard day of training.  Because of his cavalier attitude the previous day, Roshi had had to fight everyone at once, and then fight all three fusions at once, and then fight Ichigo, Piccolo, and Nail at once.  And then fly laps around the planet to work on his speed.  While flying around the planet wasn't that hard of a training exercise, doing it several times in an hour gets quite tiring.

"Dende I'm stiff.  I'm going to fall asleep dancing with Mariah tonight."  He said to himself as he tried for the twentieth time to tie his bowtie.

"There finally."  Roshi said as it finally tied right.

He looked himself over and decided that he was about as decent looking as he ever got.  "Well it's about as good as it gets for me."

He grabbed the flowers he had picked from his mother's garden for Mariah and walked out the door.

He was about to take off when Ichigo suddenly ran out of Pan's house.  "Roshi!  Do you feel that?"  She asked.

It was the first time she had spoken to him since the previous morning.

"Feel whaa..." Roshi started to ask when he realized that the ominous feeling he had been getting was more than just predate jitters.

Roshi dropped Mariah's flowers.  'No! not now!  Not today!  No!  This can't be happening!"

Roshi's dad ran up to them.  "Roshi, I'm sorry, but you need to change.  The Changeling is here... or at least it will be shortly."

Roshi closed his eyes.  "I know.  I can feel it too.  I need to call Mariah."

Roshi ran up to his room and told his computer to dial Mariah's number as he grabbed a clean Green and black gi from his closet.

"This is the Smart residence.  I am sorry but we can't come to the phone right now.  Please leave a message after the tone."

BEEEP

"Mariah, I am sorry, this is Roshi, I am so sorry, but the Changeling is... is here.  I won't make it to the dance.  I'm sorry..." Roshi would have said more, but the answering machine cut him off and hung up on him.

He called Kit, but she wasn't home either.

"DAMN IT!" Roshi yelled as he threw his tux across the room.  "Why does this always happen to me?  Why can't I just for once be normal?  Why?"

Roshi shook his head.  "Because, because I am not normal.  I need to get my head on straight.  I am not normal and I should stop pretending I am.  I need to focus now.  I've got a Changeling to kill."  He said to himself in the mirror.

It didn't help his nerves.

* * *

Roshi, Ichigo, Tee, Boxers, Piccolo, Nail, Goshu, and Yoshi watched the large saucer ship land on top of Banana's ship.  Banana's ship was crushed like an egg in an instant.

"Three thousand."  Goshu said suddenly.  There are three thousand solders in the ship and one Changeling.  Unless of course one of them is hiding it's ki, but I doubt they can do that."

The Changeling's men started to funnel out of multiple ports of the ship and surround the gathered fighters.

Then a large gray and white horned being walked out of the ship.  It stood at least 2.8 meters tall (9'2") and had a tail that was easily twice the length of its height.  It scanned them and then laughed in a deep timbering baritone.  "My my, what a pathetic bunch of weaklings you have found to protect you Princess."

Tee turned to Ichigo.  "Damn he's big an ugly."

Ichigo just stared as if in shock.

Roshi nudged her.  "Ichigo what's wrong?  Do you know who this is?"

She slowly nodded her head.  "Yeah, we're in trouble.  It's Snow.  She's Blizzard's daughter."

Tee looked from Ichigo to Snow and back to Ichigo again.  "You sure that's a girl.  It doesn't look like a girl to me!"

Roshi had to agree with Tee.  Snow, if that was its name didn't have anything noticeable that he would normally associate with the feminine gender.

Ichigo glared at Tee.  "Look at my chest one more time and if we live through this fight I swear I'll rip your balls off and feed them to you for your last meal.  Changelings are reptilian you moron.  The females are plainly colored, bigger, stronger, and more powerful.  The only saving grace is they are also slower and dumber then the males.  Unlike in mammals where the females are smaller, faster, smarter, and better looking then the males."

"Oh, ah ok." Tee agreed before he realized what Ichigo had actually said.  "Hey!"

"Children this is hardly the time."  Goshu scolded.

Snow laughed.  "Look at them, they fight amongst themselves.  Kill them, leave me the bitch.  I don't want to waste any more time than I need to."

With those words the three thousand solders attacked, and the battle for Earth's survival was under way.

* * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * ** * * * * *

This chapter is dedicated to A-man for being the first and the longest standing reviewer.

Special thanks goes to Mahonuts for editing part of this chapter.

  
Since Funmation decided to make Frieza sound like a girl, I decided to make the female Changelings sound like men.  Only makes sense to me.    

  
Thanks for reading.  Please! Please! Please Review!!


	39. Snowstorm

Chapter 39

Snowstorm

6:00 pm

Teddy Son-Briefs walked out onto the suspended platform that overlooked the crisis control room at Capsule Corp.  The room was abuzz with worried voices and the very air had a charge of tenseness to it.

Teddy hit a button that turned the microphones on before clearing her throat and talking.  "524 years ago a being named Cell terrorized Earth.  I'm not going to go over the history, or the story, you all know it well.  We are now in a similar crisis.  What you all are seeing now is satellite surveillance of the alien force that has landed here on earth.  Their goal is to destroy us and our way of life.  The only thing that can stop them is us."

"This is crunch time.  If we do our jobs, no one will be the wiser, if we fail, people will die.   I need every one of those alien solders tagged and tracked.  I need those two dropships that broke away from the main ship tracked.  You are our early warning.  If any of them approach the cities it will be your responsibility to direct people to intercept them before people start dieing."

Teddy closed her eyes and tried to calm her heart.  'I wish I could have just used family members for this, but there aren't enough of us.  I just hope the legend of Mr. Satan can keep these people from spilling too much too fast.'  She thought as she looked over the room of hopefully trustworthy employees.

"What I say now doesn't leave this room.  As descendents of Mr. Satan the Son family and the Son-Briefs family have carried on mostly in secret the disciplines and methods he used to beat Cell.  The military was useless against Cell.  The military would also be useless today.  Those people you see labeled in blue are Son Goshu and his students.  If they cannot stop these invaders, it will fall to Vice President P.J., my daughter Slip, Dr. Tank, and the CC security force to protect our cities.  You are their eyes and ears people.   I have alerted the King and most rescue forces to be on alert.  But I pray we can avoid the need for paramedics, police, and fire fighters.  Dende be with us."

She then turned the CC wide address system on.  "All employees can I have your attention please.  This is an emergency situation.  All employees working on Project Phoenix Resurrection need to listen close.  As of this moment we are in condition red.  Our launch window is in 26 hrs and counting.  I need the food and medical supplies encapsulated and loaded within the next 24 hours.  I need the rescue ships on standby alert for launch.  To all other employees, the Earth is under attack.  I repeat, the Earth is under attack by a renegade alien force who are bent at stopping the humanitarian aid that we were sending with the Rescue ships of Phoenix Resurrection.  They mean to conquer or destroy the Earth.  Please go home.  Spend this time with your families."  Teddy said.  'Dende, if there is anything to take joy in it is that this happened during evening shift when we are not fully staffed.'

Teddy took a deep breath and then turned to her control counsel.  "Distribute file, Public warning, all stations, all channels, all frequencies.  Authorization Teddy Son-Briefs, Executive President and Chief Officer, four-three-two-four-four-five-nine-A-two."

Teddy sat down and looked down at the people working below her before glancing at the GKSS screen. 'It is done.  Now all I can do is watch and pray.  Dende be with them.'

* * *

Meanwhile,

Roshi watched tensely as the large white and dull gray being Ichigo had identified as Snow laughed.  "Look at them, they fight amongst themselves. Kill them, but leave me the bitch. I don't want to waste any more time than I need to."

He jumped back and up into the air so that the first barrage of ki blasts missed him.  Within moments he was hidden within the large billowing mass of dust and smoke.

"They aren't all surrounding us.  About a third of them are flying off towards various cities."  His father said to his left.  "Tee, and Boxers, get moving, stop as many of them as you can.  If you think Slip and the rest can handle those that slip through then come back as Boxee."

'How can he open his mind that much and still focus on the fight?' Roshi wondered.  'I always lose track of what I'm doing when I try to follow too many things at once.'

"On it."  Tee said.

"Mowing the lawn quick then I'm there."  Boxers replied while several wet sounding noises and a few screams came from his general direction.

A gust of wind cleared some of the smoke, and Roshi could see Boxers whipping his sword back and fourth as he cleaved groups of the soldiers apart.

"Hah, good idea.  Kienzian!"  Roshi screamed as he sent several of the spinning disks of ki off towards clumps of the soldiers.

Suddenly, a large green lizard looking man appeared trough the billowing smoke to slam his fist into the side of Roshi's face.  Roshi had been focusing on the groups of men he was slicing apart with his Kienzians and was caught unaware.

Roshi heard and felt bones in the man's hand break while he himself didn't even flinch.

'That could have hurt.  I need to keep a sense on my surroundings.'  Roshi thought to himself as he looked at the man who had hit him.  He realized that the now whimpering warrior wasn't wearing a scouter.  Roshi glanced around and saw that of those warriors that he could see through the smoke, none of them had scouters.

Roshi turned to the warrior who had hit him.  "You have a power level of about 15,000?  You have got to be kidding me."

"Ava waahhhaaa ahaa maaaahhh" The man whimpered.

Roshi knocked him out without killing him.  'I bet most of these warriors have no choice but to fight.  Snow is the only one of these that seems to have a scouter.  She's giving them a choice of die or die.  Not a fair choice if you ask me.'

Roshi was again surrounded in smoke as a small ki blast he didn't care to block exploded against his hip.

As it cleared, he looked around and opened his mind.  At least a thousand of the original number of soldiers were now down or dead.  "Such a waste."  Roshi said as he batted a foot away from his face and knocked out two more warriors before thinking better of that action and killing them.  "Welcome to chaos incarnate.  I don't want to fight these men, but I can't let them live either because I can't trust them not to cause problems later."  He said to himself utterly disgusted by the way his hand was being forced.

Then he heard Ichigo screaming and realized she was fighting Snow one on one.  From the sound and feel of it, she wasn't winning.

* * *

"Look at them, they fight amongst themselves. Kill them, but leave me the bitch. I don't want to waste any more time than I need to."  Snow laughed.

'Well, if she wants me, she can have me.  She isn't nearly strong enough to beat me right now.  If I can kill her before she transforms, who cares about the cannon fodder she brought with her.'  Ichigo thought as she jumped over and past the barrage of incoming ki blasts.  She sped towards Snow while she focused her mind and brought herself up to Kaioken times ten.

"Kiiiiiii Punch!!!"  She yelled as she drove a right cross directly into Snow's left cheek.  The charged ki exploded into her face and Snow was thrown several hundred meters to the side.

Snow reached out with her left hand and caught herself.  She flipped into a rolling summersault and then landed.  "That was the first time anyone has hit me in over a century.  This may be more fun than I had thought."  She spat at Ichigo with a ferial grin before launching herself at the Saiyan Princess.

Ichigo waited until the towering Changeling was about to slam into her before she jumped backwards and flipped her knee up into Snow's stomach.

Snow started to fold into two around Ichigo's knee, but still managed to connect with one of her huge fists to Ichigo's right side.  The punch pushed her arm and shoulder forward and slammed most of the brunt of the blow into Ichigo's ribs.

Ichigo gasped as several of her ribs flexed and the joints along her back popped from the strain. 

The massive blow sent Ichigo reeling as she was thrown over fifty meters before she slammed into  and shattered one of the landing struts to Snow's space ship.

Ichigo forced herself to breath.  'She's a monster.  I can't close with her, she'll eat me alive.'  She thought as she realized just how much of an advantage Snow's size gave her in raw strength.

'Well, she might not expect this.' Ichigo thought.  "Kaiooo-Ken times Twelve!"  She yelled as her body was engulfed in a red ki flare.  "Ka-Mee-Haah-Mee-Haaaaa!!"  Ichigo yelled before firing off her own unique spinning version of the Kamehameha.

Snow laughed and stuck out her right hand.  She pointed her index finger at Ichigo and fired of a single small purple sliver of energy.

The two beams met and the spinning Kamehameha seemed to slow for a moment or two before it enveloped the much smaller purple beam and continued on its way towards Snow.

Snow scowled and fired a more massive black and red beam from the palm of her left hand.  

The black beam struck the Kamehameha and the two beams flattened for a few seconds before the Kamehameha drilled through the black beam and harmlessly dissipated Snow's energy to the sides.

At the last moment, Snow threw both hands up and tried to block Ichigo's beam.  The spinning Kamehameha slammed into her hands and threw her back.

'I can't keep this up too much longer,' Ichigo thought as her entire body was aching from the use of the Kaioken.  The fact that she knew she had at least a few fractures in her ribs didn't help any either.

Ichigo leapt into the air and rose into a high crescent arc before diving back down towards the gully Snow had dug herself.

Snow was just getting up as Ichigo finished her arc and landed on Snow's shoulders.  Snow was driven into the ground as the earth fractured around her.

Ichigo jumped off and started to charge a Plasma Beam at Kaioken times twelve when the ground exploded as a large green mass of ki broke free from the hole Snow was in.  The green ki ball shredded landscape for over a hundred meters and threw massive chunks of earth and rock into the air.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Snow bellowed.  Shards of her armor were cracking as the ground shook around her.  Suddenly two new horns grew out of her head and the existing ones grew much much longer.  Her tail shrunk some, but was now tipped with an ugly bony spear.  Snow screamed in agony before her musculature and frame bulged to even more massive proportions.  She finally cracked her neck by rolling her head from side to side while glaring up at Ichigo before jumping out of the hole.  She was almost totally white.  Only a section of natural armor over her heart and one on her head had any color and this was a very dull black.

Ichigo felt herself tense up.  'So much for the before she transforms.  This is bad.  Very bad.'  

Her blood red eyes locked on Ichigo.  "You got lucky with those first few attacks you stupid insignificant monkey.  Do you know who I am monkey?  Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you now?"  Snow finished as she wiped some of her pinkish blood from her own cheek and licked if off of her hand.

"Luck?  You talk big, but you don't scare me."  Ichigo said as she braced herself to push her Kaioken to new heights.  'Snow is around 5 or 6 million.  I can beat that.  I just need to concentrate.'

"Kaiooooookeeeeenn ttiiimmmmesss  twelve... thirteen... foooouurrteeenn."

Ichigo's lungs burned and her ribs felt numb.  As she pushed herself she could feel her muscles bunching and felt her body straining so she dared not push herself further... yet.

Snow must have tired of waiting because she attacked and soon she and Ichigo were circling in the air as they traded blow for blow, kick for kick, and block for block.

Ichigo slammed the heel of her hand into Snow's chin, which snapped Snow's head back and forced her away.

Snow countered and Ichigo blocked the punch, but Snow grabbed her fist.  Soon Snow had forced Ichigo down to the ground and the two of them had their hands locked as they fought to push the other back.

Suddenly Snow's tail shot between her legs and drove towards Ichigo's chest.

Ichigo barely had time to react, but managed to push herself down and away from the spearing tail.  Snow's tail still caught her along the cheek and ripped a chunk out of her ear, but didn't do any real damage.

It did however overbalance her and since Snow still had her in a hand lock gave Snow a huge advantage.  Snow forced Ichigo down onto her back and drove her knee deep into Ichigo's stomach.

The force of the blow caused Ichigo to throw up what she had eaten not overly long before the fight.  

'I'm not going to die here!'  Ichigo thought as she gagged on her own vomit and attempted to roll out from under Snow's massive form.

A quick burst of Kaioken broke Snow's grip on her right hand and she slammed it directly into the Changeling's nose.

Snow's grip loosened and Ichigo grabbed hold of one of her horns and used it to pull herself free.

Ichigo shot away before spinning around and launching off a superheated Blaze attack.

Snow was too slow to get out of the way and half of her face and most of the right side of her upper body and right arm was caught in the blast.

When the smoke cleared, the armored skin that had been caught in the blast was no longer a brilliant white, but rather a bright pinkish, as bright purple-pink blood oozed out through boils and cracks.

"That really hurts you little bitch!  I'm going to make you suffer now.  I was just going to kill you, but now you're going to pay!"  Snow yelled as she jumped at Ichigo.

Ichigo blocked a few punches and then managed to drive her knee into Snow's right side.

Snow bellowed and stumbled to the side as skin broke and bled faster.  

Ichigo was about to follow that up with a kick when Snow just continued her stumble and turned it into a flip.  The Changeling flipped and her tail came snaking out to wrap itself around Ichigo's waist.

It constricted and Ichigo screamed in pain before Snow clamped her hands around Ichigo's neck.

"My father wants me to take you home with me so he can kill you while your father watches, but I am of half the mind to just strangle you here and now.  Just twist your ugly head off and take it home as a trophy!  I would but for the fact that that would be way to nice to you.  You need to suffer!"

Ichigo wrapped her hands around Snow's wrists and tried to pry her fingernails into them.  Anything to get Snow to relive pressure so she could breath.

"I think I'll make your death slow and painful."  Snow said as she pulled one of her arms free from Ichigo's grip and held it up in front of her eyes.

A bright redish-purple point of light began to glow.

"Fuck you! You slimy stupid beast!"  Ichigo gasped defiantly.

Snow just laughed as she uncoiled her tail and used it to slash open the side of Ichigo's gi.  Ichigo tried to kick back, but Snow just wrenched her neck to the side painfully and clenched down even tighter.  Snow's eyes half closed before she jammed her finger into Ichigo's side.

A searing pain shot through Ichigo's left side as Snow fired off her piercing energy beam before constricting her tail around Ichigo again.

Ichigo gasped in pain as her stomach clenched and bloody bile forced it's way up her throat.

"Do you know how long it takes to die from a stomach wound?"  Snow mocked.  Your pathetic friends are no match for my troops, so I think I'll just squeeze the life's blood from you as you scream in pain."

* * *

Teddy up ended the bottle of antacids before shoving the final remaining ten pills in her mouth.  The screen on the wall didn't report power levels of Earth's fighters to the workers, but Teddy's own panel did.

Teddy couldn't help staring at one line.

**_Changeling, 2nd stage, power level = 6,000,000_**

Teddy looked at another panel and brought up Gohan and Krillan's accounts of the fight with Frieza.  'Frieza had four stages.  Frieza only claimed to be slightly more powerful then 1 million when he was in his second stage.  Frieza was around 12 million in his fourth stage. If this Changeling increases at the same rate as Frieza did... 6 times 12 is 72 million.  72 million!  We're dead.'  She thought as she grabbed the antacid bottle and upended it before realizing it was empty.

Teddy looked at the rest of the power level chart and felt sick.

**_Ichigo, Current = 3,256,000(Kaioken), Max Kaioken = 6,300,000, Max Normal = 450,000.  
Roshi,  Current = 100,000+ ???  Max Kaioken = ???  Max Normal = 590,000.  
Goshu,  Current = 200,000,  Max Kaioken = ???  Max Normal = 390,000.  
Yoshi,  Current = 320,000,  Max Kaioken = ???  Max Normal = 375,000.  
Piccolo, Current = 100,000  Max Kaioken = ???  Max Normal = 400,000.  
Nail,  Current = 120,000    Max Kaioken = ???  Max Normal = 390,000.  
Tee,   Current = 2,200,000( Kaioken), Max Kaioken = 2,750,000, Max normal = 275,000.  
Boxers, Current, 2,240,000(Kaioken), Max Kaioken = 2,800,000, Max Normal = 280,000  
Slip, Current = 15,        Max Kaioken = ???  Max Normal = 175,000._**

Teddy felt sick.  She ordered up another bottle of antacids from the Medlab, and didn't even look at the rest of the noted power levels on the list.

Goshu, Roshi, and the rest of them fluctuated so much that their power levels were ever changing list of numbers.  Ichigo's had peaked, but it was now dropping rapidly.  

'Worried sick... Yes, that would be me.'  Teddy thought as she saw Roshi's power level spike to over 8,000,000 as he rushed over towards were the Changeling and Ichigo were fighting.

* * *

"Kaioken times fifteen!!!"  Roshi yelled as he brought his boot down onto the Changelings head.

Ichigo screamed in pain as the Changelings hands ripped free of her neck, but was not released from its tail as the two of them skidded across the landscape and through a small boulder.

'Ouch, that sucked.'  Roshi thought as he flew forward while charging a Kamehameha.

"I wouldn't if I were you."  Snow taunted as she stood up and held a dazed Ichigo out in front of her, like a shield, with her tail.  "you might hit the bitch."

Roshi continued to charge his Kamehameha while he grimaced at Snow.  "Oh trust me, I'll hit the right bitch."

Ichigo's eyes cleared and she glared daggers at him while still seeming to be in a daze.

"You know, if you weren't such a coward, you would just fight me straight out.  You wouldn't need a to use her as a shield.  But I guess you need to use defenseless people like her against me cause you know I would kick your ass otherwise.  Tell me, what does that scouter say about my power level?"  Roshi said as he winked at Ichigo and made a subtle motion towards his hands.

If looks could kill, Roshi was sure he would be a pile of smoking ash as both Ichigo and Snow glared at him.  For a moment, Roshi wasn't sure which to be more concerned with.

But Ichigo obviously understood what he was doing as her eyes slowly tracked to his hands.  Roshi twisted his hands around so that his left hand became the top hand as he held both out in front of himself and flattened the ki ball into a disk.

Roshi saw a spark of recognition in her eyes as she suddenly twisted in Snow's tail's grip. "Kienzian!"

Shwunk

Ichigo's Kienzian sliced right through Snow's tail and Ichigo jumped away dragging half of Snow's tail with her as Roshi threw his Kamehameha charged Kienzian.  

The disk of ki hit Snow in the middle of her chest and gouged a bloody gash out of her natural armor plates before it exploded and knocked her back.

Roshi rushed over and helped Ichigo get out of the coil of tail that had clenched up after being cut off of Snow.  The wound in her side was pulsing blood and it had soaked her gi turning the formerly gray-blue shirt and pants a dirty brownish crimson.  Her face was crusted with blood and a gash in her ear still bled droplets every few moments.  Roshi looked her in the eyes and saw that they were dilated from blood loss.

"Let me help you get to Dende."  He said as he reached out to grab her hand.

"Leave me alone you jerk" Ichigo spat before she broke down and started coughing blood.  

"No, you need help." Roshi said as he glanced over at Snow and saw that she was having a bit of trouble balancing which he took to be a good sign.

Ichigo scoffed and ended up coughing again.  "Oh how heroic, I get hurt and suddenly you care.  I don't need you help and I certainly don't need your pity you ass!"

"Look this isn't the time!"  Roshi said as he watched Snow start to fly towards the two of them again.

Roshi took a quick glance at Ichigo to see how she was and was surprised to find her digging in her shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"Gahh, ahhh, I'm getting that last Senzu been I got from you.  Now if you don't mind would you watch her and not me you stupid pervert!"

"Right"  Roshi said as he absentmindedly blocked several purple ki blasts.  "You still have a Senzu bean?  What did you do hide it in your bra?"  Ichigo's glare could have melted titanium carbide.  "Um, ah, can you sense Dende?  Go have him heal you.  Don't waste a senzu." Roshi said looking away before he focused on fighting Snow.

Roshi was sure he heard her say, "pervert," before she flew off towards were Dende was watching the fight several kilometers away.  Roshi watched her go with regret.  'I hope she can make it that far alone.' He thought to himself.

Roshi knocked a few more of the purple ki blasts away before he started walking towards Snow.

You want to play machine guns?  Ok I can do that.  YADAyadayadayadayadayadayadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada!"  Roshi screamed as he sent off a barrage of Renzoku Energy Dans across the sky at Snow.

"Roshi stop that you're wasting your energy!"  Goshu shouted as he landed near Roshi.  She's still playing with you.  Don't waste your energy needlessly!"

Both Roshi and his father jumped back as Snow sent out a lash of ki that incinerated a line of earth several meters wide by many kilometers long.

Roshi looked down into the gash and then quickly stepped back as lava started to ooze out of the ground. 

"We need to end this now, or we may not get a chance."  Piccolo said as he landed near by.

"Ahhh, did I hurt the poor planet.  I'm sorry.  You shouldn't have gotten out of the way!"  Snow cackled from were she was floating.

Roshi turned to his father and the rest, "dad, she looks like the pictures of the second stage Changelings we have.  I think we definitely have to stop her before she transforms again."

Goshu nodded.  "Go, you can stop her now since she doesn't seem to be in any hurry to transform.  Use her arrogance and take her by surprise."

"I'll try.  Somebody make sure Ichigo gets to Dende, she's hurt bad."

Roshi calmed himself and took a deep breath before he slowly walked out of the huddle and towards Snow who had decided to wait leaning against a tree on the opposite side of the lava flow from Roshi.

"Ah, are you the best they can do?  I was hoping to get to kill all of you at once.  But I guess one at a time is more fun."

Roshi floated over the lava and watched her.  'damn she's huge.  She has to be taller then 3 meters.  This plan might not work... but best I have now.'

Roshi concentrated on spiking his ki only when he needed to, and he smiled to see her left eye focusing on her scouter's lens rather then on him.

"That won't help you.  Here, why don't I break it for you so it won't distract you."  He said moments before he jumped into the air and darted in to slam his fist into her left eye.  The scouter shattered under the blow.  One of the shards cut a ragged gash in the softer skin right above her eye.  Purplish-pink blood flowed freely into her eye and down her cheek.

The next moment Roshi felt his ribs pop as Snow connected with first her left fist, and then her right.

Roshi gasped for air and fell backward.

Snow stopped on his stomach and forced him into the ground as she dug her three toes into his abdominal muscles.

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"  Roshi screamed.

Snow glared down at him.  "Of all the races I have encountered I have never once met one such as yours.  Pity you seem to think the worthless monkeys are worth dieing for.  Your kind would have made for wonderful slaves."

"Stupid Bitch, I am a SAIYAN!"  Roshi screamed as he drove his right fist into the side of Snow's ankle.

She lifted her foot, which was all Roshi needed to dart free and fly up to deliver an uppercut to her chin.

Snow fell backwards, but as she fell she slashed her right arm past and nailed Roshi with a huge ball of ki.

Roshi suddenly found himself pinned against a huge red ball of ki that was burring his skin while it pushed him.  He couldn't pull away, so he sent ki into it and blew the ball up.

Even before the smoke began to clear, Roshi found her and dove at Snow.

He pummeled her in the stomach for several seconds and then tried for her face before she blocked one of his right hooks.

Moments later she grabbed his left wrist and they began pushing against each other in a match of pure physical strength.

"AAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAA" Roshi grunted as he felt his left arm suddenly break free of her grip.

SNAP!!! WHAM Roshi drove the heel of his hand into her nose and was happy to hear it crunch beneath the blow.

Then he caught a glance at his arm.

"You broke my watch!  That watch was over 500 years old.  That was Gohan's watch.  Ohhh now you're going to pay!"  He yelled before he kicked her in the neck.

Snow tried to grab him with both hands in a bear hug, but Roshi managed to jump up and out of the way.  He grabbed Snow's huge horns and yanked down on them driving her head into his knee.

Snow staggered back and held her head for a moment.  Roshi saw a chance and flipped over before he quickly grabbed her left arm with his right hand and her right arm with his left hand.

He then jumped over her back and twisted in air so that her arms crossed over her chest and then were pulled tight as he drove his knees into her back.

She tried to knock him off with her tail, but the stumped end of it was too tender and she couldn't get it wrapped around  him. So it just kept slamming into his back without much effect.

"I can't hold her forever!  Somebody fuse and kill her!!!"  Roshi yelled as he strained to keep her from pulling her hands free.

Snow turned her head as far as she could to the side and glared at him with her right eye.  "Truer words were never spoken monkey slime!"

Roshi felt her muscles tense as she bent forward and started to scream.  A sickly red and black aura started to build up around them as the ground started shaking.

"OH SHIT!!! Hurry up, she's transforming!!!!"

Roshi watched in horror as the armored plates of her back suddenly split and long black spikes started to grow towards him.  He was about to let go and jump away when she suddenly flipped onto her back and drove him into the ground.

Roshi felt two of the spikes shatter a few of his ribs and his shoulder blades before punching their way out his back.  Another pierced him through the left thigh.  And another shattered his right shin.

Snow stood back up and Roshi felt himself slide off of the spikes that had pieced him.

Snow turned around to look at him and Roshi saw that her jaw's had become elongated to look much like an alligator's.  Spines, spikes, and other sharp protrusions covered her body.

"How does it feel Monkey, to die knowing the power of a Changeling?"

Blood gurgled from Roshi's mouth as the world started to go fuzzy.

'Two punctured lungs.  I can't breath.  I really am going to die here.' He thought as the world slowly faded to black.

The last thing he saw was Goshi kicking Snow away from him.

As darkness took his sight he thought of how he had planned to spend the night dancing with Mariah.  He formed a mental image of her and tried to hold it.  In the end however, the only thing on his mind was the look of determination Ichigo had had even with the wounds she had taken.  As even the pain numbed to nothingness, Roshi found himself jealous of her.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	40. Complications

Chapter 40  
Complications

Wednesday, June 25  
6:00 pm 

Mariah wished for about the millionth time that she had had a watch with her.  'Roshi's late.  Roshi's never late.'  She thought wistfully as she watched workers finish setting up the lights and sound system for the dance.  'If he doesn't get here soon, we won't have time to go eat and Roshi never does anything without eating first.'

Mariah wanted to sit down, but she dared not as she didn't want to get her pearly-blue satin dress dirty.  Kit had forced her to get a dress that was far more expensive then she ever would have got on her own, and she wasn't about to damage it.  So she slipped of her pumps and stood on the grass waiting.

Mariah didn't believe in premonitions, at least not normally, but the longer she waited the more worried she became.  Her feelings of unease rolled in her stomach and as the time slowly passed, she had to work at holding back her tears.

Then suddenly sirens started to sound all over the city.  The sirens were the same sirens that sounded when a tropical storm or hurricane was approaching.

Mariah looked out at the Ocean.  The fresh sea-breeze was blowing calmly and a few clouds dotted the horizon.  There was nothing that indicated a storm was approaching, but just the same, she decided to walk up to the boardwalk and into the beachside mall.

As she walked in to the mall, she saw that people were gathered outside the electronics store watching the news, so she joined them.

"This is breaking news, while the Royal Palace has yet to confirm this report, we have just received a message from the Capsule Corporation.  They claim that the Earth is under attack by an alien force."  One reporter said to another.

"Yes well we can speculate all we want, but the Mayor of Satan City has declared a State of Emergency.  He said and I repeat, 'Our great city is named in honor of a hero.  Despite the current problems within their family, I have no doubt that Mr. Satan's descendants remember and respect his name too much for this to be anything but the emergency that Teddy Son-Briefs claims it is'"

Mariah's heart just about stopped.  'No! not now.  The aliens Roshi was worried about can't be here now!'  She thought as the two commentators went into a discussion over the Mayor's words.

One of the men made a disrespectful comment about Roshi's actions the week before, and Mariah just about shouted at the TV, 'Roshi's a hero you idiots!'  She thought to herself while she clenched her fists. Then she looked down at her dress and sighed.  "I just wish he didn't have to be everyone's hero."

Mariah dejectedly left the mall and the beachside area to walk home.  Kit had dropped her off to wait for Roshi, but had been given explicit warnings not to even think about coming to the gala if she didn't have a date.  Which left Mariah without a ride.

As the sirens continued to blare and people rushed by in various states of panic, Mariah broke down.  She couldn't contain her emotions any longer.  She found a park and slumped down on an bench and cried.  "Why did this have to happen now?  Why can't Roshi just be normal like he said yesterday?  Why?"

Mariah wiped a tear from her face and shook her head.  "I have to stop.  I'm being irrational.  Roshi is who he is because if he was normal he wouldn't be... Roshi."

Mariah got up and forced herself to keep walking.  'This is actually a good thing in a way.  Roshi can't... he won't lose.  I know he won't.  Once this all blows over we can tell each other all the things we always wanted to say, and everything will be ok.'  Mariah laughed bitterly to herself.  'Easier thought then done.'

As she thought, she had been walking along a busy street that ran into the center of the city.  Mariah was in the middle of a cross walk when  a premonition of something terrible hit her.  She stopped to reorient herself as first one then another and another building down the street suddenly exploded in flames.

"AHHHH!!!!"  Mariah screamed in horror as the shockwave knocked her from her feet and threw her into the traffic of the street she had been walking along.

* * *

Meanwhile,

Teddy wished she could reach through the screen and strangle the Mayor of West City.  "What do you mean you won't issue a public emergency!  There is a dropship with troops that is about to land in the middle of your city.  This isn't a joke.  You need to get people off the streets!"

"Mrs. Briefs, you may run Capsule Corp, but you don't run this city and you don't run the world, even though you may think you do.  The King hasn't issued a statement and I'll be dammed if I'm going to let you order me around like some puppet on a string!  I will not be made a fool of just so you and your Corporation can look like heroes!"

"You stupid arrogant fool!  You think this is some Public Relations move?  I don't know what's more discussing, the fact that you are so blind, or the fact that you are so willing to put people at risk because of it."  Slip glanced at the screen that showed the dropship that had flown towards West City disgorging it's troops.  Slip was horribly out numbered and the very thought made her stomach turn.

"If you want your proof, go to a window and look North.  Those explosions are from my security force and my daughter trying their best to save your city from your stupidity!"

Teddy was about to say more when an alarm suddenly started sounding.  Teddy looked back at her readouts to watch in stunned disbelief as Roshi's name and numbers started to flash red on the readout.  Almost as soon as that happened the floor below her erupted in pandemonium as the attacking troops in the Satan City area started to attack and destroy parts of that city.

She turned and glared at the white faced man.  "I tried to warn you. I don't have time to waste on you any longer."  She said abruptly before closing down the line.

Teddy quickly chewed down some more antacids and then tried in vain to determine what had happened to Roshi.  The computer still tracked his nonmoving earpiece, but couldn't find a trace of him.

"The Fusions are unpredictable.  Watch Roshi's numbers.  If he is doing well, we are doing well.  If not... well, best not think of that.  Never stop hoping for the best."  Goshu had said to her through his earpiece as he and the rest flew into battle.

As Teddy focused on the image of Slip fighting while totally surrounded by the invaders, with more of them less then an hour away, coming from the main ship, hope seemed a very long way away.

* * *

Slip's greatest concern at the moment was actually not the people she was fighting.

'Ok, so Mom thought it would be best if I wasn't seen fighting in West City.  That I can agree with.'  She thought to herself as she kicked one of the attacking men in the crotch and then broke his neck as he fell forward on her.  

'So she thought it would be best if I wore the Great Saiyaman Two costume.  No, problem.  It really is fairly nice armor.'  She thought as she threw one of her Great... one of Vegeta's Galic Gun beams into a cluster of solders killing men and women alike.

'So it just happens that the suit is supposed to be one size fits all.  And it just happens that Videl was about exactly my height.'  She thought as she blocked an attacking woman's punch and then grabbed the woman's arm and threw her into the ground.

'But it just happens that I'm not nearly as flat as Videl was and this thing is getting damn uncomfortable!' She thought as she finally gave in and reached up to tear open the neck of the suit some.

Slip quickly surveyed the fact that the security force with their ki blasters would be able to mop up most of the remaining troops without a problem.

"There is a small contingent of warriors that broke through and is heading for City Center."  One of the operators told her through her headset.

"Ok, I'm on it."

Slip made a silent wish that she had been able to master the Kaioken, as she pushed herself to greater speeds as she rushed towards the center of the city.

As she got there, she saw a large cinnamon colored man with chocolate colored hair fire off two sickly green colored balls of ki at a screaming crowd that was rushing to get out of the streets.

'Crap,' Slip thought as she dove to intercept the blasts.

Slip crashed quite spectacularly into a van that just happened to be parked in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she did manage to knock the two blasts up and away from the crowd.

"That's Saiyaman!  Saiyaman just saved us!"  a female voice that sounded just a bit too familiar said as Slip crawled out of the compacted van.

"No way! That's a SaiyaGIRL!"  Someone else said and Slip suddenly realized where she had heard the voices before.  She looked up and her fears were confirmed.

"Niko, Carge what are you doing here!  Get out of here, Roshi would kill me if something happened to you two!"  Slip said before she remembered that she was in costume.

"How do you..." Carge started to ask, but Slip didn't give him any time as she jumped up to block another set of ki blasts.

"Just go home!  EVERYONE GO!  GET OUT OF HERE!!  GET OUT OF THE CITY!!"  Slip shouted before she started to charge a Kamehameha.

At the sight of "Saiyagirl" shooting a brilliant blue white beam of energy and knocking the big hairy flying man back, most of the people decided that they wanted to be someplace else.

Slip didn't have time to notice as the man worked his way off her beam and darted for her like a rocket.  She barely registered the leer on his face before he hit her in the jaw.

* * *

Goshi ducked under a sweeping kick and in turn swept Snow's other leg.

Snow threw a ki blast into his face to keep herself from falling over and then followed that up with a punch to his ribs, which he blocked with relative ease.

"You monkeys are stubborn, but I'm glad.  I haven't had this much fun in years."  Snow taunted before trying to bite Goshi's head off with her elongated jaws.

"Just wait, the fun hasn't even started yet."  The reverberating duality of Goshi's voice replied before he hit her in the chest with a Masenko.

Snow fired off several large ki blasts in quick succession, but Goshi dodged or blocked all of them.

"Is that the best you can do?  I thought we were fighting not dancing."  Goshi taunted as he pirouetted around two ki blasts and kicked one of them back at Snow."

"No one has ever dared to mock me!  You good for nothing MONKEY!"

Goshi flew up and kicked her in the bottom of her jaw before darting away from her scissoring arms.  "If you think that hurts me Lizard breath then you are even dumber then you look."

Snow screamed in rage as she spread her fingers and shot beam after beam of energy from each fingertip.

Goshi was overwhelmed by the attack and thrown back and into the ground.

Before he could get up Snow landed on him and kicked him in the head.

When she bent over to pick him up, he kicked out jamming his foot into her mouth.  For a moment, it looked like a tactical error, then he grabbed the roof of her mouth with his left hand and pried her mouth open.  Using his right hand he fired a massive ki blast directly into her mouth.

Unfortunately he did this at the same time as she fired off a breath blast attack.

The explosion knocked the two fighters back like twigs in a hurricane.

* * *

At the Royal Palace the King (who is still a dog) was in discussion with two of his top advisors.

"Sir, I do believe you need to make a public statement.  The Earth is under attack.  If you don't make a statement the people will think you don't care."

"Yes, I would also send out the Royal troops.  The people at Capsule Corp. may claim that they are handling the situation, but not more then a week ago they couldn't handle a much smaller group of attackers and the moon ended up being destroyed.  Are you going to trust them to save your Kingdom?"

"Good point, Sire, if you don't act the people might as well install the Capsule Corp. as the ruling government.  Your very legitimacy as the King is being challenged here.  Can't you see that the Son's are just trying to win back the hero status that they so carelessly squandered these past few weeks?"

"That's enough!"  The King said as he ruffled his fur.  "I will make a statement.  And I will send the troops.  Get me a map, we need to figure out where the Capsule Corp has it's people so that when our troops come to reinforce them they can appear to be the tide that turns this battle."

"Yes, excellent idea Sire.  We can make it seem that the Son's were trying to hog too much of the glory and risking people because of it.  This could work against them even worse then the Moon did."  The rat faced advisor smiled before leaving to get the King what he requested.

* * *

Teddy was surprised to find her antacid bottle was miraculously empty again as she upended it and nothing came out.

She watched the King's broadcast one more time and then looked at the world map to confirm that a large group of the Royal guard were headed right for where Snow was fighting Goshi.

The computer finally got through to the Palace, but rather then the face of the King, a mousy looking rat faced human man appeared on the screen.  "I'm sorry, but the King is too busy saving the Planet to talk right now.  What can I do for you Mrs. Son-Briefs?"

Teddy sighed.  'Why the King has someone like R. A. Tong as one of his advisors is beyond me.'  Teddy thought quickly.  "Richard this isn't the time!  If you don't call back that main attack force loyal men and women are going to die.  Right now Goshu and his students are fighting a being much like Cell.  You remember what Cell did to the Royal troops back before the Cell games right?"

"Yes, and I also note that we have gained a lot of technology since them.  I also note that you've taken it on yourself to make this into a world wide panic.  The King knows what he is doing.  Why don't you go invent something and stay out of the way?"  He replied snidely before ending the connection.

Teddy ripped the monitor off the stand and threw it across the room.  'What the HELL is up with idiots risking people's lives over an ego trip?'

As she turned to tell an aide to get her a new monitor and a new bottle of antacids, Teddy decided that men had way too much macho ego problems to ever truly make the right choices in times of crisis.  They all had to play the hero, or failing that they needed to think that they were in control. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

Teddy looked at her map panel again and winced.  Slip was single-handedly fighting something that was slightly stronger then she was.  She was doing a good job, but the city was getting torn up.

Nail and Piccolo were protecting the East Capitol and North City.

Boxers was trying to stop the Royal Guards from throwing their lives away.

Tee was most of the way to Satan City were his father and Boxer's father were being out fought by several people that were far stronger then they were.

Goshi was fighting at roughly half what he started out at, and Roshi was either knocked out or dead as far as the computer could determine.

The only good news was that the Changeling seemed to be losing energy at the same rate as Goshi, and that Ichigo seemed to have been healed from whatever injuries she had sustained.

'Please Dende, help us through this.'

* * *

"AHHH!!!"  Mariah screamed as she fell into the path of a hover truck.  As she hit the ground, she saw it swerve to miss her and sideswipe a taxi.  Then, something hit her on the back of the head, and the world went black.

When she came to, she was pinned under the beam that normally held the street lights up.  Mariah tried to wiggle herself free, but throbbing agony shot from her left shoulder.

'I can't move!' She panicked and started to hyperventilate as she struggled to see what was going on around her.

Siren's still wailed.  People were shouting and screaming.  Acrid smoke of burning metal and fuel cells wafted past.  However, the thing that frightened Mariah the most was when she saw the nearby van that had overturned trying to avoid hitting her.  There was a small pool of blood forming from where it was dripping slowly from the rents and crumbled mess that had once been the front of the van.

"Roshi will save me."  She said to herself in an attempt to stop panicking.  "Roshi said he was going to be fighting these people.  If they attacked her then he has to come.  He has to save me."

"ROSHI!!!" Mariah screamed.  "ROSHI HELP ME!!"

In the distance an explosion drowned out her screams.

Mariah screamed and called for help for what seemed like hours.  She yelled until her throat was raw and her lungs burned from the smoke.  She didn't give up hope as she called for Roshi to save her.

Then the Earthquake hit.

* * *

Slip swallowed more blood as her nose continued to bleed relentlessly.  Her entire head throbbed as she dove out of the way of yet another roundhouse blow that would have slammed into her temple.

'All this idiot does is hit me in the head.  I need to stop this now or I'm going to have brain damage!'

"Wha ha!  Big Buildings!"  The man yelled triumphantly as he fired off several quick ki blasts.

Slip turned to follow and block the blasts and gave a squeak of horror as she realized he was attacking Capsule Corp.

One of his early blows had destroyed her headset.  And with all the fighting Slip had totally lost track of where she was.  

"YA YA YA YA!!"  She yelled as she quickly fired off a succession of ki blasts in an attempt to destroy his blasts.  Three of the balls of energy intercepted their targets and exploded in brilliant bursts of energy.  The last missed and Slip's jaw dropped as the green ball of ki slammed into one of the newer domes and exploded.  A large section of the dome collapsed and started to burn.

Slip turned and drilled him six times in the stomach in rapid succession.  "THAT'S IT!  You're done.  That was MY BEDROOM YOU IDIOT!!!"

The cinnamon colored man brought his hands down and jammed them into her neck in an attempt to stun her.

Slip threw her arms up to block and then slammed her knee up into his groin.

'I don't know why Ichigo doesn't use that attack on Roshi all the time.  It seems to be the only one that works on him.'  She thought absentmindedly as she threw an uppercut into the man's face.

"Pretty girl goin die now."  The man replied as he pulled away from her.  Slip got the distinct impression that a trained rat would beat this warrior on an IQ test.

"Oh yeah?  I'm stronger and faster then you now.  What are you going to do to me?"

The man simply laughed as a crease suddenly appeared in the middle of his forehead.

Before Slip could react, his entire body split open and a brilliant orange man ripped his way out of the shed skin.  The old skin drifted down to the street looking way too much like a shed snake skin for Slip's liking.

The man's right arm stretched out and grabbed her around the neck.  Slip gasped as he pulled her closer to him.  Since he had shed his armor with his old skin and was now totally nude, it wasn't hard to tell what his intentions were.

As soon as she was in range, she booted him in the crotch.  To her horror the man didn't even flinch.  

"Do again, Pain make me happy.  You want hurt too??"  The man laughed as he slammed his left fist into her chest.

"So you no like that?  You no like when me attack buildings too.  I think I have fun now."  He mocked her as he ran a finger down her face and then reached past her to fire off several ki blasts.

Slip had both hands clenched into the soft side of his elbow trying to get him to release her while she continuously pummeled his crotch with her knees.

"No!!!!  MOMMMMMMM!!!"  Slip managed to scream.  She was out of options.  Nothing was working.

'It's now or never.'  She thought as she tried to get her mind to focus on the meditations needed to perform the Kaioken.

"KAIOKEN!!!"  She coarsely bellowed as he swept her right arm around to chop into his neck.

Slip blinked in surprise as her hand sliced right through the man's neck and out the other side.

His mouth fell open and his eyes rolled back before his head fell off of his shoulders and tumbled to the ground.

"Wow, ah, that was... easy."  Slip said before turning around to look at what he had done to the Capsule Corp.  

Slips shoulders dropped.  "Mom's going to kill me!"

As Slip stared in shock, the Power Dome burned, mocking her.  In the middle of a tragedy, the Capsule Corp. was without power.

* * *

The building shook once and then the power went out.

"Main generator destroyed.  Backup power coming online in three, two, one."  The computer faithfully reported as red emergency lights blinked on and off throughout the room.

The lights flickered on for a moment, before plunging the room into total darkness.

"Backup generators offline.  Switching to city grid in five, four, three, two, one."

Nothing happened.

Teddy put her head in her hands and trembled.  The primary computer ran on a backup power cell that was good for over a year, but it couldn't run anything else.

"CALM DOWN!  Everyone please just calm down.  This was an unforeseen complication, but it changes nothing.  Those of you with technical expertise meet me at junction 32a by the hanger.  I'm going to try to splice power in from one of the warp ships."

Teddy quickly rushed out of the room and headed for the hangers.  At the hangers, she ran into Max, who was helping to load the rescue ships with food.

"Max, good.  You can fight some right?  I mean you spent sometime training with Goshu right?"

Max looked down from the window she was staring out of and realized who was talking to her.  "Oh yeah, but..."

"Good, before we lost power, Satan City was getting beat on and Goshi called everyone who could fuse back to the Changeling fight.  If Slip is still alive, I need you to find her and send her to Satan City.  Seems, Saiyaman has to save Satan City again."

"Teddy I'm no better then you are at fighting!"

"I know, but I can't send myself I need to get power back.  Please go. We need all the help we can get.  Besides, don't you want someone to save your restaurant?"

Max looked down for a moment and then looked up again.  "I'll go.  You want me to stay here and help guard this city while Slip goes to Satan City right?"

"Yes.  Slip wiped out almost everyone who threatens us here, but Dr. Tank, and P.J. can't hold back the forces that are at Satan City."

Max nodded and flew out the door.  "Wish me luck."

"I wish for you a lot more then just luck."  Teddy replied to herself.

* * *

P.J. winced and quickly glanced down at his left arm.  'Nope, the ulna is definitely not supposed to be sticking out of my arm like that.'  He thought as his tattered arm twisted in the air as he dodged a large ki blast.

P.J. turned back and glared at the little blue turtle shelled alien that had broken his arm and devastated much of the city.  "Oh don't you dare smile at me like that you little shit!  I still have one good arm and two good legs to beat your shell in with!"  He yelled as he threw a couple of ki blasts at the little shelled alien.

The turtle thingy just pulled its arms, legs, and head in and let the ki blasts bounce off of its shell.

P.J. heard the alien laughing at him from inside its shell.  "Why you little!"  He yelled before punting the alien into the upper atmosphere.

"KAMEHAMEHA!!!"  He yelled.  "Breathe vacuum you little shit!"  He yelled as he shot a one handed blast that would have made Gohan proud.  The Kamehameha pushed it up to the edge of space.

"DAMN!"  He yelled as the little alien fired several ki blasts and then dove down through the atmosphere towards the fight.

"Hey, if you're not to busy playing with your guy, I could use some help!"  Tank yelled from where he was fighting two identical tiger looking warriors.

Tank was Boxer's father and while being one of the best scientific minds in the world, was not a very apt fighter.  His primary tactic was "fly faster" where he made people dizzy by flying away from them at top speed.

Unfortunately for him, the two warriors were not letting him get away from them.  In fact, they seemed to be having great fun tossing him around like a rag doll.

'Ugh, why did I never take the time to get Goshu or his father to train me?'  T.J. thought as he winced from the pain in his arm while trying to block one of the two tiger looking warriors so Tank could deal with the other.

The warrior he tried to block lashed out with both arms and then kicked him.  Unable to block everything because of his broken arm, P.J. was kicked through a nearby building and ended up with several I-beams wrapped around him.

"This is really starting to get bad.  If we don't get help soon, there won't be much of Satan City worth saving."  He said to himself as he pulled himself out of the mangled beams and strewn wreckage.

* * *

Ichigo pulled her hand away from Roshi's face.  It was cold and clammy.  "What's wrong with him?  I thought you said you healed him."  Ichigo asked accusingly to Dende.

Dende winced as the ground shook from a near by explosion.  "I did.  But it seems much like you when you were unconscious in the Room of Spirit and Time, Roshi has looked past death's door.  I can't do anything more for him.  He will just have to wake on his own."

Ichigo grabbed the elderly Namek by the scruff of his collar.  "Just what do you mean by that?  I saw him go down.  He didn't do anything like what I did in that wretched room."

Dende sighed.  "No he did not.  I still don't fully understand how or what you did in there."

Ichigo threw him down.  "Then what do you mean about looking past death's door?"

"Dear child it is an expression used to describe people who are near death.  When you were in your coma I was afraid your mind and soul had departed.  You were in a dreamless sleep.  From what you said you didn't even feel yourself pass out.  Roshi, however was aware.  He may be even worse off then you because as you can see, he is not in a dreamless sleep.  He saw the wounds he had received and had enough time to realize what they meant.  Even now that his body has been healed, his mind still thinks him dead."

"So he's just dreaming?"  Ichigo asked before bending over and slapping Roshi hard in the face.

Dende ineptly attempted to bring his staff down on her head.  "Leave him be!"

Ichigo blocked the knotted staff and wrenched it from Dende's hands.  "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you into a pile of green goop for that!"

Dende looked past her and winced as Snow threw Goshi into the ground and then followed that up with a shower of ki blasts.

"Patience child.  Roshi will wake on his own time.  If you force him to wake before he finishes whatever dreams keep him on the pathways between life and death, part of him may stay there!"

Ichigo growled in frustration and stalked away.  "Some god you are!"

* * *

Slip practically flew into Max as she flew out of the hanger.  "Maxine!  What are you doing?"

Max stopped and grabbed Slip, "you need to get to Satan City.  P.J. and Tank can't hold on much longer and no one else can relive them."

Slip got an odd gleam in her eyes.  "When this is over will you help me get Roshi back for all this?"

Max just looked at her.  "When?  You don't have time to think about when Slip.  This is now.  People are dieing.  Get moving, I'll stand guard here."

Slip's jaw snapped shut.  "You're right.  But don't ever even hint there won't be a when.  We're not going to lose.  Roshi isn't that lucky."  She yelled as she flew away.

Max, who knew almost all the family gossip that could be told, had to laugh.  "That's the spirit."

* * *

When the earthquake hit the pole that had Mariah pinned to the ground shifted suddenly and fell on her ankle crushing the joint.  Mariah had passed out from the jolt of pain.

When she woke up, someone was patting her cheek softly.  "Mariah, are you awake?  Can you hear me?  How bad are you hurt?"  Someone asked her franticly.

Her head was swimming, and she couldn't seem to focus on who was talking to her.  "Roshi?  Is that you?"

"Thank Dende, you're awake." The male voice exasperated.  "I've been trying to wake you up for like five minutes.  You're bleeding all over a really nice dress."

Mariah's leg was numb, and her right side throbbed.  "Roshi is that you?"  She asked as her eyes finally started to focus.

John Kind looked down at her with a dirty face locked in a look of worry.  "No, I'm sorry, it's me John.  Were you going to the Gala with Roshi?  Is he someplace in this rubble?"

"No, I mean yes, I...  Roshi never made it to the dance.  I tried to walk home after the emergency was called, but I..."

"Mariah, it's ok.  I'm sure Roshi is fine  He lives out in the middle of nowhere.  I bet whoever these aliens are won't even bother him."  John said with a reassuring smile.  "Now let's get you to a Hospital before you get infected.  That ankle looks terrible."

He helped Mariah stand up and she looked him over.  He was covered in small scrapes and bruises.  Grease and dirt stained his pants and he was missing one shoe.  "You don't understand.  Roshi's a fighter.  He is someplace fighting right now.  I know he is."

John frowned as he bent over to feel for a pulse on an arm that was sticking out of a somewhat crushed car.  After a few moments he gave up.  "Such a waste.  I am sure you are right.  Roshi is descended from Mr. Satan, but not even Mr. Satan could have saved us from this."

'And Roshi knew it was coming.  Why weren't they better prepared?  How could this happen?'  She thought to herself as she grabbed John's shoulder for support.  "How did you find me?"

John blushed.  "Um, well to be honest.  It was your dress.  I was in the taxi the van that almost hit you hit when it swerved to miss you.  I um, saw you from several blocks off and didn't recognize you.  I mean you looked... look well ah, stunning to be honest.  Anyway I was watching you and then the whole world just kind of exploded around me."

Mariah blushed at his complements.  "Thank you.  I'm glad someone got to like my dress.  Roshi never even got to see it.  At least not when it looked nice."  She said while glancing down at the various rips and tares and blood stains that covered the once pristine dress.

John looked away.  "So... you two are dating then?  It is true, not just rumors.  I don't tend to read the tabloids but with all the stuff going on lately..." he trailed off when Mariah burst into tears.

"Yes, but no, but yes...  I don't really know.  Roshi has so much going on I don't know if he has time to be official and I..."

John stopped and looked down at her.  "Mariah, I know this isn't my place, and I know I shouldn't say this, but I have to.  He isn't worth it.  If he is too busy for you, then he doesn't deserve you."

"But he does and... Oh it's so complicated and I can't tell you why.  Roshi isn't too busy because he wants to be it's because he has to be.  He hates it."

John was silent for a long time as they hobbled down the block avoiding small fires and rubble from cars and collapsed buildings.  "No on can choose who they are, but anyone can choose what they do with who they are."  He finally said softly.

Mariah didn't have an answer for him.  So she stoically remained silent.

"I'm sorry.  That wasn't a very nice thing to say.  I...  I don't really know Roshi, so I shouldn't judge him.  I just, I don't know he seems so distant all the time.  Not like he is better then everyone, just distant."

"I don't want to talk about Roshi.  You would be distant too if you were him.  I don't know how he can be as normal as he is with all those vicious reporters and everyone picking on everything he does!"

John stopped and looked at Mariah.  "I know, I know, I'm sorry.  What I've said was uncalled for.  Please forgive me."

Mariah winced and then smiled.  "You pulled me out from under a light pole.  I guess I can forgive you.  Apology accepted.  There, now we are even."

John rolled his eyes.  "So much for the Knight in Shining armor idea.  You know, rescue the fair maiden and be her hero for life.  I was really going for the whole hero thing."

Mariah shuddered as an explosion sounded in the far distance.  "I am sure there are many maidens far more fair then I that need rescuing today.  I'm one of the lucky ones."

The two teens were suddenly flung to the side as a blue shelled creature crashed into the middle of the street ripping asphalt apart like tissue paper and heaving chunks of debris all about.

* * *

Roshi had never believed in near death experiences.  He had heard all the stories about being pulled toward the light and dismissed them.  So when the darkness took him and the pain slowly went away, Roshi panicked.

He was now locked in a nightmare of his own making.  He saw himself fall.  He had failed.  Snow laughed viciously mocking him and then started to fight Goshi.

"No!!!!"  He screamed impotently.  No one seemed to hear him.  Snow transformed again and the fusions were no longer stronger then she was.  Roshi watched as Snow ripped Boxers's sword away from Boxee and killed Tee and Boxers with it.  Ichigo was vaporized by a ki blast that destroyed a huge section of the planet.  Dende, Piccolo, and Nail were ripped apart into so many pieces that they couldn't re-grow.

Snow then threw a huge ball of ki down on Goshi.  Goshi couldn't stop it and it exploded spreading fire and death throughout the planet.  The land burned under a wave of fire.  The fire washed over the Earth until nothing but ash and cinders remained.

Roshi couldn't take it.  He had failed.  He had failed Ichigo, and his family, and Mariah, and Kit, and Carge and Niko, and all the rest of his friends.  He had let them all die.

Roshi screamed in rage and terror as if by force of will time reset itself.  Time flowed backwards to when he was fighting Snow again.  And Roshi watched powerless to stop himself from falling again.

* * *

Kit for her part was furious at her parents.  "I can't believe we're just going to leave like a bunch of rats jumping off a sinking ship!"

As head of Capsule Corp's terraforming project for Planet Vulpe, Kit's father had his own space ship, which Kit's mother was hastily packing with luggage.

"Keiko Nny!  This is the last time I'm warning you.  We're doing this for you.  One would think you would be more gracious.

"Doing this for me?  This isn't about me!  We're running away while people are dieing!  After everything these people have done for us how can you just leave?!?"

Kit's mother sighed and grabbed her by the shoulders.  "Kieko dear, you have to understand."

"What's to understand?  When Vulpe was hit by that comet, Roshi's Great-Grandfather didn't have to stop and help.  No one had to come to our rescue, but they did.  And now we're just going to run away and not help anyone?"

"Keiko, they're fighting a Changeling for Kami's sake!"

"So!  Changelings have attacked this planet before and failed.  They aren't going to lose!"

"You don't know that, no get in so we can go."

"No.  I'm not running away again.  I'm not starting over again.  Roshi and his family won't lose.  And even if they did and the Changeling kills everyone, I would rather die here with my friends the escape and have to live with their deaths the rest of my life!" Kit yelled before turning around and running out of the hanger complex.

* * *

"John wake up!  Oh come on Dende please let him wake up!"  Mariah cried as she slapped John lightly on the face.

A chunk of asphalt had struck John in the forehead.  A large gash still wept blood as Mariah frantically tried to wake him up.

Suddenly a screaming feminine voice was heard over the din of the chaos.  "Oh you think you're funny you little shelled beast!  When I'm done with you there won't be enough of you left to make turtle stew!"

The screaming was followed by a rapid succession of explosions and Mariah shuddered as a building down the street suddenly collapsed.

"John wake up!  We need to get out of here!  Come one wake up!"

Mariah gave up trying to wake him up and grabbed his right arm.  Since her ankle was crushed, she couldn't put any pressure on it, but still managed to very slowly drag him towards the entry for the Subway.  With everything that was happening, the Subway tunnels had to be safer then being up on the street.

As she approached the stairs, a man who's face was blistered from burns  appeared from a side street and saw her.

"Miss, is he alive?"

"Yes.  I'm trying to get to the subway to get out of the attack."

"Then he's one of the lucky ones.  Here you shouldn't be struggling in the shape you are in.  Let me carry him."  The man said before grabbing John and walking quickly for the Subway.

"My name is Nakamo Jube." The man introduced himself after they were down into the Subway.  

Mariah introduced herself and gawked at the crowd of people in the room.  It seemed like anyone who could fit had crammed into the terminal to escape the destruction of the city.

A mass of screams went up as the ground shook and the lights flickered and went out.

'Roshi make it stop.  Please make it stop.'  Mariah cringed as the ground continued to shake and the lights didn't come back on.

'Why couldn't you be here Roshi?  Why couldn't you save me?  Why?'

* * *

Slip yanked her hand out of the blue shell.  "YOUCH!! You bit me you stupid turtle!

"Hei HEI HEI," the blue alien laughed at her snickering in glee.

"Oh that's it!  Look what you did to this city!  You're going to pay!  Ka-Me-Ha-Me..."

The alien clamped it's shell closed like usual when Slip or anyone else charged a ki attack.

Seeing this, Slip glared and flew up to clamp the thing between her knees.  'lets see you get out of this one,' she thought, "HAAA!!!"  She screamed placing her hands directly over the tiny opening in the shell were the alien's head normally would go.

Slip cringed in pain as her own blast bubbled over and flowed past her legs burning the armor off and singeing off the tiny stubble of hairs she hadn't shaved off that morning.

The shell finally slipped free of her hold and shot down towards the ground pushed by the beam.

"Awe Crap!"  Slip dove for the ground and knocked it back into the air before it could create yet another crater in the middle of the city.  At least that is what she had meant to do.  By the time she caught up with the turtle shell, her Kamehameha had so consumed it, that when she kicked it, the shell just broke apart like an overly fragile egg.

The last remnants of her Kamehameha slammed into her and knocked her into the ground.

"I didn't sign up for this."  Slip mumbled to herself as she crawled out of the small impact crater she had made.

"At least I've gotten rid of all the guys attacking the Cities.  Now it's up to Roshi and the gang."  Slip said before letting the concussion she had been fighting since West City pull her into unconsciousness.

* * *

Ichigo couldn't take it any longer.  Goshi had just been knocked through a granite bluff and wasn't looking so good anymore.

'I can't let these people die because of me.  I can't let them fight for me.  This is my fault I need to do something about it.'  She told herself.

Ichigo glanced at Roshi, and then at were Tee and Boxers had fallen when Snow had knocked out Boxee with one punch.  'They suffer because I wasn't good enough.  This isn't their fight.  This shouldn't be happening.

"Kaioken times Tweeennty!"  She screamed as a huge flair of blood red ki exploded around her.  As the burning pain shot threw her she knew she would probably die, but she didn't care.  There were worse things in life then death.

* * *

Hi, I am really sorry this took so long to post.  I hope to get 41 up this week yet, but no promises.

Please Review.

The Smooster 


	41. When Fate and Destiny Converge

One cannot try if one does not dream.

One cannot fail if one does not try.

One cannot learn if one has not failed.

One cannot strive if one does not learn.

One cannot dream if one does not strive.

Because every dream is a goal

and every goal has a first step

and every first step starts an adventure,

and because every adventure has the chance of failure,

or it is not worth the attempt.

This chapter is dedicated in memory to those Astronauts lost on

February 1st 2003 when the Space Shuttle Columbia did not make it home from her last adventure.

Chapter 41  
When Fate and Destiny Converge

Wednesday, June 25  
6:29 pm

"Kaioken times Tweeennty!" She screamed as a huge flair of blood red ki exploded around her. As the burning pain shot threw her she knew she would probably die, but she didn't care.  There were worse things in life than death and failing her duty to herself was definitely one of them.  

'This wouldn't be happening now if I were not here.  These people have tried to help me and look what it brought them.  I can no longer sit by the wayside and watch.'

"GAHHHHHHHHH"  Ichigo screamed as she shot up and then down through the sky to deliver a double handed slam to the top of Snow's head.  It connected on the small black armor plate that was directly between the row of spiky horns that shot out of her head and ran down her back.

Since Snow had been concentrating on fighting Goshi, she had ignored Ichigo's approach, and the attack caught her unaware.  An audible crack sounded as the large lizard's neck popped under the sudden impact.

Ichigo slipped down behind Snow and grabbed two of the largest spines that protruded from the Changelings back.  These two spines seemed to come right from Snow's shoulder blades, and were encrusted with dried blood.  Ichigo realized immediately that it was Roshi's blood.

'I cannot let Roshi and his family's valiant fight fail here today.'  Ichigo thought before cringing with the realization that she had thought of Roshi's actions as valiant.  With the exception of her father and possibly Meron, Ichigo had never known someone she could think of as a hero, or even valiant.  To think that the first people she could think of in those terms other then her father and Meron, could be fighting their last fight due to her presence turned her stomach.

Ichigo was cautious not to allow Snow to put her in the same position Roshi had been and impale her on those spines.  Ichigo grabbed the ends of the spines and tired to shove them together with all of her might.

Ichigo realized almost immediately that her plan would not work.  While the Kaioken increased her speed, power, and strength significantly, it made her almost physically weak.  She couldn't sustain the Kaioken long enough to use in a contest of brute power, and her muscles burned as though every one of them had been over extended or torn.

"AHHHH!!!"  She screamed in frustration as she flung herself away from Snow's back.  "You will not beat me!"  She yelled as she whipped her leg around and slammed her foot into the side of Snow's head.

Snow was knocked over and out of the air from the blow as her neck cracked yet again.  The Changeling bounced off of the ground and spun to face Ichigo.

"My my, Princess, I didn't realize you were in such a hurry to die.  I must compliment you however.  I've never found a chiropractor with quite the right touch.  I must say you have quite the touch.  I've had a kink in my neck for decades."  Snow said as she rolled her neck and popped it a few more times.

Ichigo crossed her index and middle finger on her right hand and started to charge one of her drill beams.  "If you want I can wipe that grin off your ugly face too."

"Yahhh!"  Ichigo's hand darted forward as she fired off the brilliant blue and red spiraling beam from her fingertips.  Snow's eyes bulged as the beam shot towards her.  She started to duck, but it was too late, and the beam slammed into her left shoulder.  True to it's name, the Drill beam tore through the armor and muscles of Snow's shoulder before blowing out a new opening in her back in a burst of purple-pink blood.  

The force from the blast knocked Snow backwards as she dodged and she landed on her back.  Her spines impaled the soft ground beneath her and she barely was able to tumble out of the way before a second beam could strike her in the face.

* * * 

"Goku, you are not dead.  You still need to breathe occasionally."  The Supreme Kai said as he walked up behind Goku.

Goku was sitting in his spot.  It was the location on the Kaioshin's world that was the best place to watch the happenings on Earth.  It was also the on place that the Kaioshin or Supreme Kai knew he could find Goku if he wasn't training or eating.

While the Kaioshin knew exactly why Goku was upset, seeing him almost blue in the face and sopped with sweat from worry was such an unusual state for the intrepid Saiyan to be in, that Kaioshin was almost at a loss for words.

"Goku, I know you think me cold hearted, but you can't interfere with what is happening on Earth.  Had you not interfered in the first place and brought Buu here, none of this would be happening.  Since you were the one who set this current crisis into action, I cannot stress enough how you should learn from this and not interfere in the natural progression of life."

Goku blinked twice and then looked up at the Kaioshin.  "I know, but until Roshi forgot how to wake up, I wasn't worried.  I was sure that they would be able to handle Snow."

Kaioshin did a double take before he could remind himself that this was the same Goku who hadn't gone all out against Majin Vegeta because he knew Vegeta wouldn't have been able to take loosing again.  This was the same Goku who didn't go all out against Buu because he had so much faith in the abilities of two untested children.  This was the same Goku who knew when he couldn't beat Cell and put his son in when no one but he himself had any faith in the boy's chances.  This was the same Goku who had first caught Kaioshin's eyes when he stopped Frieza from taking over the North Galaxy.

Kaioshin knew better than to second-guess Goku.  The man seemed to have an almost uncanny ability to change reality when he put faith in someone or something.

"Why were you so sure that Roshi would be able to beat Snow?  She is a lot stronger then Frieza was, and he seemed to lack the discipline to take her seriously."

Even though he knew it was coming, Goku's clueless shrug and uplift arms made the Kaioshin fall over.

"I don't know.  I just think he can."  Goku said as he turned back to look at the Earth.

Kaioshin started to turn around to walk back to his house when Goku interrupted him, "Kaioshin, do you feel that?  She's almost there.  She just needs to break through the wall.  Do you think she'll do it?  Pan never could.  Do you think Ichigo can go Super Saiyan?"

Goku's voice was an odd mixture of worry, hope, and confusion mixed together in that series of questions.  Kaioshin didn't know how to answer him.  "I don't know Goku, none ever have."

Goku looked even more confused.  "What do you mean?  I did, Vegeta, and Gohan, and Goten and Trunks, and..."

"I know, I know," Kaioshin said to cut him off before he named every single person who had ever gone Super Saiyan.  "But, everyone who has ever made it to the level of Super Saiyan has been male.  I could go ask Grandfather," he said referring to Rou Kaioshin, the old Kaioshin who had fused with a witch and been trapped in the Zed Sword for generations.

Goku shook his head.  "Nah, that's ok.  I know she can.  She just needs to believe."

Kaioshin knew he was getting into dangerous territory if he continued the conversation, but he had to know.  "If you are so sure, why are you so worried?"

Goku scratched his head for a few seconds and then sighed.  "Because she isn't ready to believe yet.  Her doubts will kill her now if she can't release them."

Kaioshin sighed.  "That is not good to hear, but there is nothing you can do.  Things will just have to work themselves out on their own.  If she can as you say believe, I am sure she will when push comes to shove."

"No!"

Kaioshin turned around to gawk at Goku.  Goku almost never raised his voice.

"No!  You don't understand.  I was never alone.  Gohan was never alone.  Vegeta, Vegeta might understand what her demons are, but no one else was ever truly alone in their times of need.  Right now she can't believe because she has nothing to believe in."

"No Goku, you can't just go there and fight and make her problems go away."

Goku made a face and looked at Kaioshin.  "Don't be dumb Kaioshin, I can't fix her problems, she has to do that herself.  No one can do it for her."

"If you know no one can fix her problems for her, then why are you concerned about Roshi?"

Goku looked up at Kaioshin and made fish mouths for a few seconds in his surprise.  "Because, if Roshi were awake, he would be fighting and he doesn't have her problems."

Kaioshin almost laughed at the simplicity of Goku's answer.  'Goku is so intuitive at times that I forget his mind isn't that complex.  If you find the simplest solution, you will generally find Goku's ideas.'

"Well then it truly is a shame that the boy won't wake up."

Goku looked towards the Earth, "he will wake up."

"Goku, I'm warning you, you cannot get involved any further.  Even the Earth needs to work through it's own problems.  If this Snow is to lose, she will lose without your intervention."

Goku didn't say anything, so Kaioshin left to walk away.  Rou Kaioshin intercepted him before he could go too far.  "You know he is going to do something don't you?"

"No he won't.  He knows I wouldn't allow it."

Rou Kaioshin fell over laughing.  "Since when has Goku ever listened to anything but his own conscience?  He will act because he knows in his heart of hearts that it is the right thing."

"Goku has never disobeyed me before!"

"You have never told him to do anything he knows is wrong.  If your memory is so bad as to not be able to remember what he is like when he is actually mad about something then I suggest you go and stop him from doing whatever it is he plans on doing.  I'll just stand over here and watch."

Kaioshin felt the blood drain from his face.  "You have an excellent point.  Get King Kai up here to stop him."

Rou Kaioshin slapped Kaioshin and then walked away.  "Children these days, they never learn anything!"

* * *

Teddy jumped back as a shower of sparks erupted from the conduit she had been working on.

"Damn!"  She practically squeaked as she blew on her singed hand.  "This isn't working."

Teddy had tried to hotwire the power grid using power from some of the ships in the hanger and was finding it far more difficult then she had imagined it would be.

The relays in this section of the Capsule Corporation's complex were not designed to take the energy load necessary to power the primary dome and all the equipment in it.  So Teddy was working on trying to jury rig a bypass system so she could just power the control room and a few other essential areas of the complex.

"Well at least the world stopped shaking.  I just hope that it truly is a good sign."  She mumbled to herself as she once again tried to weld the bypass circuit into place.

Lights over on the main dome came on, which was a good sign, but Teddy held her breath.

Once the circuit had held for a full minute, she relaxed and decided it had worked.

A few of the workers would claim for weeks that Teddy broke the sound barrier as she ran back to the main dome and her control room.

* * *

Ichigo saw out of the corner of her eye that Goshu and Yoshi had split apart.  'Damn, now I really am alone.  Naiccolo isn't strong enough to even dent this form of Snow.'  

As if reading her mind, Snow began to taunt her.  "You surprised me bitch, but now your friends won't be helping you now."  She replied as she rolled her shoulder testing to see how much Ichigo's attack had weakened her arm.

"I won't need their help to beat you."  Ichigo replied defiantly while she studied Snow's movements searching for weakness.

Snow laughed wickedly.  "Oh really?  Your father didn't think so.  He sent you here to protect you from us.  He doesn't think you can.  He said so himself while we were beating him like the worthless piece of slime he is."

Ichigo saw red and charged without thinking, "my father is NOT slime!"  She screamed as she dove in with her fists glowing blue to deliver fully charged Ki Punches. 

Snow who had expected just such a reaction, delivered a perfect uppercut to Ichigo's face.  The Changeling's spiked fist caught her under the chin and threw her head back.

Two of Ichigo's incisors cracked under the blow and the Saiyan Princess saw stars as she was hurtled backward and away from Snow.  'IDIOT!  That was exactly what she wanted you to do!'  Ichigo scolded herself as she up righted herself in the air and spit out chunks of her teeth.

"You are pathetic Monkey!"  Snow taunted.  "Your father knew, Banana knew.  Everyone knows.  You were born worthless and you will die worthless!"

Ichigo had a flash back of the many times Banana had mocked her.  She saw his cruel face as he tried to rape her and shuddered.  She saw his face from the day she came back from her trial.  She remembered how it was a mixture of anger and confusion.  She remembered Suikan and the guilt she had felt when he died.  She remembered Budo and the many others who had looked down on her throughout her life.  The many rejections ranged from not being willing to train with her to outright rejecting her.  She remembered Slip's comments about never being able to make it to the level of Super Saiyan.  She remembered the cutting comments Roshi had made the last few days and how he had suddenly ignored her.

Ichigo shuddered as her doubt found purchase in her soul.  A cold empty feeling slowly took hold and worked its way through her like a snake.  'I am not a failure.  I AM NOT worthless!'  Ichigo thought to herself in an attempt to will away the cold guilt and fear.

Snow laughed cruelly as she fired a large red ki blast at the distracted Saiyan.  

* * *

Roshi watched as the ki fed energy wave flowed over the surface of the Earth.  He screamed in rage as he watched the cities burn and people die.  He saw Mariah, Kit, Carge, Niko and all his other friends try desperately to out run the wave.  It caught them and their flesh burned from their bodies.  They like the plants and animals and even the buildings around them burst into fire and flashed into ashes within moments.

He screamed but no one heard him.  He tried to help them, but could not touch them.  He could do nothing but bellow in pain and rage.

But then, then when it seemed it could get no worse, a hand landed on his shoulder.  At the point where Roshi had been about to give in and give up, that hand comforted him.  It held strength and peace.  It was firm and unwavering.  It, unlike the world around him, which he could not touch or affect, was real.

Roshi turned to see who it was who had placed their hand on his shoulder.

"Goku!  What are you doing here?"  Roshi asked instantly remembering the dream he had had after fighting Ichigo for the first time.  "Am I dead?  Are you here to take me away?"

Roshi had expected Goku to laugh like he had previously.  But Goku looked completely serious and worried.  "No, you are not dead, and I cannot take you anywhere."

Roshi watched the world burn for a few moments.  "So this is another dream?  This is what I think will happen if I fail, isn't it?"

Goku nodded his head.  "You are not the only one who can stop this, but if you all fail, then yes."  Goku paused, "it will probably not be exactly like this, but the end result will be the same."

Roshi blinked.  "How do I stop this?  How do I wake up?  And once I wake up how can I beat Snow?"

Goku placed both hands on Roshi's shoulders and looked him in the eye.  "You won't unless you try.  Believe in what you can do and nothing will be too hard for you.  Stop believing in this dream and believe in yourself.  I have to go now, but know you can do this Roshi."  Goku said as he faded from view leaving Roshi alone in his nightmare.

* * *

'NO!' Ichigo screamed in her mind, 'I will not let her get to me!'  Ichigo sensed the incoming ki blast and turned to face it at almost the last moment.  "KaaaaaaiiioooaaaKeeeeen!"  She screamed through her swelling lips as she cupped her hands and charged a massive Plasma Beam.

Snow's attack struck her just as she released her Plasma Beam.  The large red beam expanded like a balloon a few hairs breath from Ichigo's hands as her blue-pink beam slammed into it.

Unfortunately, while the Plasma Beam was extremely powerful, it dealt damage by inducting large amounts of energy into a target and super heating the area of impact.  It absorbed the energy of a smaller sized Kamehameha to some extent, and could momentarily hold off a beam of equal strength.  But, it lacked the force and cohesion of a Kamehameha.

Even more so than a Kamehameha, Snow's red beam was a beam of pure force.  Had Ichigo used her drilling version of the Kamehameha, she could have shattered the beam easily.  As it was after a few moments Snow's red beam managed to overtake the Plasma Beam and turn it back towards Ichigo.

Like water rushing over a rock in rapids, the brilliant energy washed over Ichigo and threw her back.

Ichigo felt her hands blister as she fought to shield herself from the awesome power of the turbulent energy that washed over her.  She tried to throw herself out of the beam, but found she could not.  The beam only pushed and pulled her along as it tore at her lacerating and pummeling her with no discretion.

When the beam finally ended and Ichigo fell to the earth, she was badly stunned.  Her gi was in tatters, most of the blue reflective outer layer was gone, while little remained of her gray vest.  Cuts and lacerations bled through her shredded gi.  In other places her burned skin oozed yellow blood plasma.  Sweat dripped over the cuts and burned adding to her pain.

Ichigo tried to get up, but stumbled and fell to her knees.

* * *

Snow was mad.  No, mad was not the right term, she was furious at herself.  She had for the first time in her life truly been injured.  Not only had she been injured, but she had been injured in her third form.  'I have never had to even assume my fourth form in any battle.'  She thought to herself as she strode over to where Ichigo had fallen.  'I have never needed it so I have never used it.  I don't need it now but I think it might be fun to show the monkey just how little of a chance she really had.'

Her left arm was going numb from the damage she had received from the Drill Beam.  This was a new sensation for Snow, and it was the primary reason for her anger.  'That bitch almost killed me.  No one has ever even threatened me and that bitch almost killed me!'

As Snow approached she realized that the others who had been fighting her had disappeared.  They were nowhere in which she could see them.  'Cowards.  My father should have destroyed the Saiyans long ago.  They are animals, beasts.  Not worthy of life.'  With the thoughts of what she was about to do to Ichigo filling her mind, Snow smiled as much as one could with a jutting jaw and no lips.  The knowledge of how the way she looked normally struck fear into her foes made her even more gleeful.

Ichigo had managed to stand and had ripped off the tattered rags of what had once been her blue gi.  As Snow approached, she kicked her remaining boot off and stood barefoot defiantly glaring into Snow's eyes.

"So you want to be defiant do you little Princess?"  Snow taunted laughingly as she looked down at Ichigo.  "I find your defiance amusing.  Do you have any idea what I am?  You are nothing compared to me.  You will never be anything.  I am here to put an end to the error in existence that was you."

Ichigo clenched her fists and her knuckles popped one after another.  "I am Ichigo Kudamono.  I am the daughter of King Kuwa Kudamono and Queen Nashi Kudamono.  I am the future of my people and you will not beat me!"

The force and tone of voice she used along with the gleam in her eyes frightened Snow.  Snow knew full well why her father and no other Changeling before him had ever tried to destroy the Saiyans.  The legend of the Super Saiyan was widely believed to be just that, a legend.  It was thought to be only a story.  But myth and legend are often based on fact, and it was widely known that the more one pushed a Saiyan, the more they pushed back.

Snow was almost twice as tall as Ichigo.  She out massed the Saiyan girl by over two hundred kilos.  Nothing had ever stood against her in her life.  Snow was barely wounded, where as, Ichigo was barefoot, bleeding, burned, and clothed only in tatters.  But now, on an unknown planet in the far reaches of the universe, Snow knew fear for the first time.

Snow pulled her right arm around to deliver a roundhouse punch to Ichigo's head.  Ichigo ducked under the blow and reached up to catch Snow's arm as it passed over her head.  Careful of Snow's blade like barbs that ran down the outer side of her arm, Ichigo used the arm's momentum to pull herself around and she drove a glowing kneed into the side of Snow's face.  The blue ki that had surrounded Ichigo's knee exploded into Snow's head and knocked her backward.

Ichigo let go of Snow's arm and finished her backflip.  She landed on her feet and immediately swept Snow's left leg, tripping her.

As Snow fell onto her back Ichigo spoke, "I am more than you will ever dream to be and nothing you say can belittle me.  I have fought everyone my entire life.  I have fought for everything I am and everything I have.  My enemies tried to hurt me and make me quit, but they could not stop me.  You are no different.  I will beat you and move on.  I am the future of my people and I will be remembered long after you are nothing but dust."

Ichigo appeared above Snow, bathed in a brilliant red aura moments before she drove her elbow into Snow's neck.  Snow gagged for a few moments as she struggled to rise and fight.

When she realized Ichigo had not crushed her throat in that attack, she started laughing.  

Ichigo slammed her foot into the middle of Snow's stomach, and the blow knocked her back a step, but she kept laughing.

"You are pathetic."  Snow stated before she threw her head back and began to scream.

* * *

Teddy hugged herself but could not stop her shakes.  Two lines dominated her monitor.  Two lines seemed to hold the destiny and fate of the planet in their glow.

**_Changeling, Transforming, power level = 20,000,000+.  
Ichigo, Current = 12,620,000(Kaioken), Max Kaioken = 15,000,000, Max Normal = 750,000._**

Roshi still failed to show up.  The fusion Goshi had failed and now both Goshu and Yoshi were too spent to try it again.

Slip had saved both West City and Satan City, but it look all for naught.  Everything now seemed to depend on the rash and unknown abilities of Ichigo.

As she watched, the Changelings power level passed 25 million.  Teddy looked away and began to pray.

* * *

Snow threw her arms out so that they were straight as she hunched over and began to scream.  A purple wave of ki so dark it was almost black exploded out from her and knocked Ichigo back like she was a leaf in the wind.

With in moments the sky had darkened and lightning started to play across the sky.

Ichigo stared horrified at the pulsating, swirling vortex of purple black energy that circled the spot Snow stood.  "NO!"  She screamed as she leapt into the air.  "NO!  You are not transforming!  NOOOO!!!"

Ichigo began to throw blast after blast of energy into the vortex.  Her arms whipped around her in a blur as the blasts rained down.  They exploded on contact with Snow's vortex and soon the sight of her transformation was hidden in a dense layer of smoke and dust.

Snow's screaming became louder and the ground began to shake.  Lava spouted from the gash she had made earlier and the stench of brimstone filled the air.

"NOOOO!!!"  Ichigo screamed as it began to rain.  The heavens opened up in a torrential downpour.  The rain mixed with the smoke and fire to add steam to the mix.

Ichigo threw everything she had into a last desperate Kamehameha.  The beam sliced through the steam, dust, and smoke that hid the Changeling, and slammed into the vortex that surrounded Snow.  The vortex began to bulge and collapse under the pressure.  The Kamehameha was almost touching Snow.

But Ichigo's body railed against her.  Her muscles and joints screamed at the abuse and she couldn't hold the Kaioken any longer.  She had given it her all and was spent.  She had nothing left.  'I've failed.' She thought to herself as her last bit of will gave out.  Then, with a sad flickering the Kamehameha died.  

Ichigo hung in the air gasping for breath and let the wind and rain buffet her.  She thought she heard voices in the distance, but as the thunder cracked and the ground shook, she didn't care.  In the eye of the storm, Ichigo waited to face Snow's fourth form.  

Then, she heard something that sounded like a mix between a shriek and a whistle.  She realized it was coming from behind her and was just about to turn around when the missile struck her.  It hit her in the back, at her hips, right where her tail had been.  While not nearly as sensitive as that wound had been at first, the sharp pointed nose jammed nerves and knocked her forward.  Then the warhead exploded bathing her in liquid flame.

The cold lightning of wounded nerves raced up her spine and exploded into her brain followed quickly by the needle like prickling tingle of muscles tightening.  Her eyes dilated and the world went fuzzy.

As the heat of the fire reached her, her stomach tightened and she dry heaved on her way to the ground.  As she hit the ground and bounced, she heard a cheer go up as though a great crowd of people were celebrating.

'Not like this.  I refuse to die like this.'  She told herself as she tried to fight the ice that had claimed her legs.  She couldn't feel her legs, but as she fought the numbness that was trying to take her consciousness, her mind started to clear.  Ichigo realized she was being burned alive, and managed to create an aura blast to knock the burning napalm off of herself.

The ground continued to shake as Ichigo stood on wobbly legs and looked around at the circle of Royal Guards who had gathered in a circle about to kilometers out from where Snow was still transforming.

Ichigo opened her senses as best she could and almost wanted to cry.  "No!  NO!!!  YOU PEOPLE DON'T STAND A CHANCE!  DON'T THROW YOUR LIVES AWAY!"  She cried out as she found the will and energy to move again.  She took to the air and flew towards where Goshu could be over heard frantically arguing with someone.

As Ichigo took to the air another missile sped towards her.  Now aware of what was going on, she grabbed the rocket out of the air and tossed it down into Snow's vortex.  It did no good, but at least it did no harm.

* * *

Goshu screamed a warning at her, but it was too late.  The missile slammed into Ichigo's back, just as she realized something was approaching her.

Goshu didn't expect anything to happen from it and was taken by surprise when her ki suddenly dropped away and she fell from the air.

"YES!  We killed the alien freak!  We won!"  Someone shouted and a cheer went up.

The General smirked in Goshu's direction and walked up to him.  "You see Mr. Son, you may thing you are something special, but you really should have left this up to the military."

Goshu could have reached out and snapped the man in two far more easily then the effort it took not killing him.  "You fool!  She is on OUR SIDE!  You just shot one of my students!"  It was not until later that Goshu realized how closely he had come to saying far more then that.

Goshu heard Ichigo screaming and turned to see another missile being launched at her.  Even from this distance, Goshu could see she had been burned badly, black scars covered red skin in far too many places on her arms, legs, and face.

But she was not dead and she was still fighting.  Goshu found himself awed at her tenacity once again.

He turned back to the General.  "Sir, please, you remember what Cell did to your guards 500 years ago?  If you don't leave the same thing will happen now.  Please, I beg you leave.  You cannot win this fight."

"Nonsense.  I have an army of five thousand to your what?  Four, five?  Maybe Six people.  You are the one who should be leaving.  This isn't a time for pretty martial arts."

Goshu looked back over the parched battle ground from the huge saucer ship and the piles of dead bodies to the bubbling lava pools and burning ground and couldn't help but wonder how the General could think what had happened today was pretty. 

Then, the ground stopped shaking and it became eerily silent.

"Please Sir, turn back.  You haven't got much time."  He pleaded one last time.

Ichigo landed beside him and glared at the tank that had launched the missiles.  "Who are these idiots who are so willing to throw away their lives?"

She stunk of burnt flesh and blood dripped down her left side, which had been burned worse then the right.  At the sight of someone such as her still standing with such grievous injuries several men fainted dead away and the General seemed to become nervous.

Then the world around them exploded.  The aura vortex that had been building around Snow expanded suddenly and the ground heaved like ripples in a pond as the sphere of energy expanded outward consuming everything in it's path.

Goshu grabbed Ichigo and shielded her from the brunt of the energy wash as he braced himself.

The wave of energy had greatly dissipated by the time it reached the ring of Royal Guards, but it was still great enough to fling their tanks into the air like small stones and knock their troops back like dust in a wind sheer. 

The sound of Snow's cruel laughter was easily heard over the destruction.

* * *

Dende could feel Ichigo slipping away.  She was still conscious only by force of will.  But she was weakening quickly.  He knew that if he did not get to her soon, she would at best end up in a coma like Roshi, and at worst, she would be dead.

The people of the world were praying, and that gave him more energy then normal, but in the dire straights that presented themselves to Dende as he dodged debris and flew over the dead and dieing, Dende questioned why he had ever become Kami of Earth.

* * *

Boxers watched in horror as Snow emerged from her cocoon of energy and laughed.  She had changed.  She had lost a third of her height and most of her bulk.  She now stood almost exactly 2 meters tall and was only slightly more bulky then Roshi was.

Snow was no longer covered in spikes.  Instead three great claws the color of dried blood curved from her fingers.  Her tail ended in a similar blade.  Other then those blades and a few blood colored plates, her entire body shined battleship gray though it had been highly polished.  

That however was not why Boxers watched in horror.  Her power was why he was terrified.  It reverberated off the ground as she walked.  It drowned out his senses and left no doubt in his mind of just how powerful she truly was.

As she laughed the remaining members of the Royal Guard opened fire on her.  They fought valiantly.  They gave her everything they had and then some.  In those moments of battle they fought like demons and they fought well.

They also fought a useless battle.  Snow laughed and floated into the air.

"Is this the best you can do?  You are but flies to me!"  She proclaimed gleefully.

Snow held up her right arm and clenched her fingers.  Blackish-purple energy crackled between her fingers and a ball of red energy formed in her hand.

Goshu appeared before her.  "Leave them be.  They are not your enemy.  Fight me."

"No, fight me.  I am your enemy.  You will not kill them before you kill me."  Yoshi said as he flew up to stand beside Goshu.

"You will fight the two of us as well."  Nail and Piccolo said as one as they flew up to face Snow.

Boxers looked down at his sword.  It was the sword that had once been Trunks'.  It was the sword that as legend would have it in one life or another had killed both Cold and Frieza.  "Well old friend, shall we go to our deaths?  Shall we fight the good fight?"

Boxers sighed.  "I won't have it any other way."  He said to himself as he flew up to face his death.

* * *

The pain drifted away and Ichigo felt as though she was being wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket.  She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  It felt good to breathe again.  She slowly opened her eyes and then blinked quickly as the old green wrinkled face of Dende looked her in the eyes.

"AH! Don't do that!"

Dende smiled.  "I am sorry dear child, but you needed to be healed.  Go now, the final battle is about to begin."  He said as he pointed up to Snow and those who gathered near her.

Ichigo quickly rolled to her feet and stretched.  It felt good to move.  She felt tired, but alive.  "This fight isn't over yet."  She declared to herself as she flew up to face Snow.

As she approached she overheard Boxers speaking.  "This is my world and if you wish to kill innocent people you will have to go through me.  I am your enemy and I am not afraid of you."

Ichigo flew between Goshu and Snow.  She smiled inwardly at the surprised look on Snow's face, and the surprised gasps several of the men made.  As her aura built her hair, which had never burned even as her skin had, fluttered freely in the wind. "You came here for me Snow.  I am your enemy."

Snow laughed triumphantly and threw her ki blast at them.

* * *

Roshi was drifting.  He was no longer trapped in his dreams, but he was not yet free.  Then, something hit him.

It was warm and soft and wet.  Roshi smelled the coppery scent of blood, mixed with sweet perfume.

The ground shook as He opened his eyes.  There was a red haired woman laying on him.  She had fallen on his chest crosswise.  A distant explosion rumbled and Roshi sat up.  As he sat up he rolled her over so she faced up.  She had been only a few years older then he.  Blood had soaked the front of her olive uniform.  A jagged piece of metal had torn a gash in her blouse.  It stuck out of her left breast and was angled down and inward.  Roshi looked into her lifeless emerald eyes and knew that death had come quickly for her.  She had died when her heart had been punctured by the jagged shard of metal.  Roshi reached down and closed her eyes.

Roshi gently stood up and laid her down on the ground.  In the distance he felt something that filled his heart with ice.  Snow was powerful.  She was almost too powerful.  He could feel his father, Yoshi, Nail, Piccolo, and Ichigo fighting her.  Boxers was on the ground.  He couldn't sense Tee.

"Goku belied in me.  I cannot fail."  He looked down at the red haired woman and saw several other corpses.  "I can not fail."

Roshi took a deep breath and sped towards the battle.

* * *

Ichigo no longer had the stamina to pull off a Kaioken times twenty.  But she realized that with all the people fighting Snow couldn't hit them all and the more open Snow left herself by focusing on her, the better.

So she attacked.  "Let's see how you like this!"  Ichigo cried as she sped in toward Snow's head.  Snow heard her and saw her coming and twisted to block the oncoming attack.  'Yes!'  Ichigo thought as she twisted her body to avoid Snow's slashing swipe.  "Thunderflash!!"  She yelled as she clapped her hands together a few centimeters from Snow's eyes.

The attack knocked Ichigo back, which helped her retreat, but it didn't help her get out of the way fast enough.  One of Snow's feet managed to hook itself into Ichigo's right side.  It slammed into her right below her bottom rib and pushed its way up.  Ichigo felt four of her ribs snap.  As she pulled away Snow's toe caught what was left of Ichigo's bra and pushed it up and mostly off of her breast, but she didn't care.  She had other things to worry about.  As she coughed blood, she knew she had punctured her lung as well.  But Snow was shrieking in agony with her arms locked over her eyes.  She was blind.  It had worked.

Ichigo coughed.  "Quickly, fuse.  It is the only way we can beat her!"  She yelled as she pulled her bra down and gingerly felt her bruised and broken ribs.

Unfortunately, Snow did not give them a moments rest as she started to blindly hurl huge ki blast in random directions.  Ichigo dodged as best as she could and even connected with a few attacks of her own.  Her mood shifted even lower as she watched her Drill Beam shatter harmlessly against Snow's armor.

Then Ichigo felt something she never expected to feel again as Roshi darted past her glowing a brilliant red.

* * *

Roshi knew it was time to act.  Ichigo had suddenly dropped in power substantially and even with the others starting to fuse, he doubted they would be of much help.  'No, he thought, this is up to me.  Now is when I stop playing fair.  Now is when I must act.'

As he approached he hooked his pinky finger blow his thumb and curved his other three fingers in his right hand into claws.  Ardent green energy flashed as three ki powered claws shot from his fingertips.

Roshi had never used the Jade Talon attack in battle.  He had threatened Ichigo with it in a moment of anger the night he had met her, and had used it to slice everything from granite to paper with ease.  But he had never used it in battle because it was an attack that was meant to rip people or objects apart.  It was meant to kill.

"Remember me bitch?"  He asked Snow as he ducked under one of her flailing arms and drove his left fist into her stomach before slashing all the way down her front from her left shoulder to her right hip with the Jade Talons.

Thee miniscule paper cut sized lines appeared and slowly seeped purple pink blood.  Then Snow's left elbow slammed into the top of Roshi's head.

Roshi tried to twist out of the way, but could not as Snow's knee slammed into his forehead.  Roshi saw stars as his neck popped and his ears started to bleed.

As his ears filled with blood, he felt as though he was under water and could barely hear what sounded like his father's voice scream at him to duck.

"Roshi get down!" Roshi heard it and ducked as a Kienzian whirred through the space his head had been in moments before.  The disk of spinning energy dug into Snow's hip and shattered leaving behind a slowly weeping gash where it had hit.

Snow must have been regaining her sight as she fired off a massive one handed ki blast down towards where he floated.  Roshi flipped to his side and barely dodged it.  As he spun to a stop he watched in horror as the beam slammed into the ground and disappeared into the earth.  Moments later a huge crater was formed as a massive stretch of land simply erupted and shot out of the ground and into the sky.  The Earth shook and great cracks opened out from the crater.  Magma bubbled out of the ground and started to fill the gaping hole.  To make matters worse, Roshi's senses told him that three hundred of the remaining Guards lives' winked out of existence in that moment.

* * *

In Satan City the ground shook with a sudden lurch and many damaged buildings fell.  Down in the subway station where Mariah had sought shelter the ceiling tiles rained down and the lights blew.  John moaned in pain as he was thrown onto Mariah in a heap.  He was just pulling himself off of her when the ground shook again and he lost his balance and fell onto the concrete floor.

The last thing Mariah saw before the last of the lights blew out was blood pooling beneath John's head.  Then darkness surrounded them all and stole her sight.

"John! Oh please wake up!"  Mariah cried.  She didn't know what to do.  She didn't know who to turn to.  Normally Roshi would be there to save her and everyone else, but today, Roshi was not there and Mariah felt completely alone.  "Roshi where are you?"  She pleaded to the air.

* * *

Snow's eyes burned.  She was regaining sight but it was coming slowly.  'How are they able to keep coming back?' She wondered.  "I killed you!"  She screamed in rage at the young man in the green and black gi.  "I killed you and I will kill you again!"

"Don't be so sure!"  Roshi replied as he darted in to deliver a straight fingered jab to her larynx.  Snow gagged and tasted blood when she coughed.  

This fight was not going her way,  Even though she was far more powerful then they were she just couldn't fight all of them at once.

"It is time some of you died!"  She yelled as she spun around and found the two older men starting to perform some sort of dance in midair.  She threw a ki blast between them and caused them to stop the dance and jump apart.

"It is time you died!"  She yelled as she jumped towards the closest one of the pair.  He tried to dodge and escape her grasp, but it was of no avail.  She grabbed his left arm and wrenched it around.  A quick jab shattered his collar bone and several of his ribs.  He bellowed in pain and blood specs splattered her face.  'There is nothing better then hearing them scream!' She thought as she kicked up with her right leg and slammed her foot into his armpit.  With a satisfying liquid pop and tear his arm ripped free of his body.  Blood spurted freely and he screamed in pain, his eyes glazing over.

She was about to rip his other arm off when the boy in the green and black gi kicked her in the face and caused her to break away from the old man.

"Your cruelty stops here Snow!"  He yelled as he started to pummel her with repeated ki charged blows.  Blow after blow landed bruising armor and muscle and tissue.  Then Snow connected with an open handed punch directly to the center of his sternum.  She felt a satisfying crunch as his ribs compacted.  The boy was thrown back as large amounts of blood burst from his mouth and splattered on her chest.

He fell all the way to the ground and landed like a rag doll.  'Two down, four to go.' Snow thought as she smiled in a way only a Changeling could smile.

* * *

It hurt to breathe, but Roshi wasn't going to give up.  He was going to keep fighting.  An image from his dream flashed before his eyes and Roshi found there was no other inspiration needed.  'I can not give up.  If I give up now, we will all die.'

Roshi took as deep a breath as he could and jumped into the air to resume his battle.  He floated up and above were Snow fought with Ichigo, Naiccolo, and Goshu.  There he spread his arms wide and began to concentrate.

Roshi as he concentrated on his task, he watched as Piccolo and Nail succeeded to form Naiccolo.  The fused Namek attacked Snow with a vengeance.  He knocked her back again and again.  He shot multiple Makankosappoes at her, knocking chinks in her armor.  

He watched as his father managed to get several attacks in and cover for Dende while he tried to stop Yoshi from bleeding to death.

He watched as Ichigo continued to give it her all.

He watched and he hoped they could hold her off long enough for him to finish his attack.

* * *

Not to far away, the General of the Royal Guard finally reached a working cellular phone.

"Are the trump cards ready?"  He demanded through it.

"Yes," a nervous clerk replied.

"Then launch them now."

"But, but Sir, that will kill the Son's and you, and all your men and women too!"

"I don't care.  The Guards are dead.  We died as heroes.  As for the Son's they are causing just as much damage as this Alien invader is.  Besides, if they die with it, at least they will die as heroes with us.  It is what they always claim to be isn't it?"

"Yes sir, but I really think you should talk to..."

"The King told me to do whatever I could now are you going to disobey me and your King?"

"Ah, no! Sir!"

"Good, then launch them now!"  

* * * 

High above the Earth a satellite carrying four missiles changed it's orbit slightly.  Then moments later if fire one after another all four of it's missiles.  They would reach their destination in a little under two minutes.

* * *

Ichigo was finding it harder and harder to land a punch.  Snow had blocked a ki punch moments before and the block had broken Ichigo's left hand.  With only one hand to fight with and not being able to breathe well, Ichigo was growing desperate.

'I'm going to die here if we can't stop her.  I could use my Stopper Beam.  Dende said it would kill me.  I never actually hit Roshi with it.  It has to effect another person as badly as it effects me.'  She reasoned as Naiccolo delivered an uppercut to Snow's chin.

'There has to be something I can do.' Ichigo was not one to give up.  Then she noticed it starting to get darker and she looked up to see energy swirling around and towards Roshi who was holding his arms up and spread.

'A Photon Array?  What is he thinking?  That attack is almost useless.'  But, every little bit counted she decided, so Ichigo set out to find a way to keep Snow from seeing what Roshi was preparing.

* * *

Lightning flashed between Roshi's hands as the energy built.  The sky was starting to grow quite dark as he gathered more and more of the light energy from it.

'I hope like hell this works' He thought as he closed his eyes and started to concentrate.  Slowly through manipulation of his ki and from just compacting the energy he had gathered he began to change the nature of the photons he had gathered.

* * *

"RAAAAHHHHH!!!!"  Slucht!  That had been the third arm Naiccolo had had to regenerate, and the fused Namekian was beginning to grow tired.  As Ichigo had predicted, Snow was indeed slow.  It was her only weakness.  Even so, when she hit, she hit hard and her claws were razor sharp.  Naiccolo knew he could not afford to loose another limb.

Naiccolo was just about to close with the grinning Changeling again when high above them a sudden flash of brilliant light bloomed in the dark sky.

* * *

Roshi felt the nuclear explosions before they were more than a moment old.  He felt the uncontrolled blast of radiation and energy surge outward and directly toward where he continued to gather light for his attack.  Roshi clamped his eyes tighter shut and prepared for the worst.  'Well this is a certain way to test my theory.'

* * *

Goshu shielded his eyes as the energy wave from the explosion blasted past him.  He felt the radiation burn his skin slightly, but was surprised to find it less powerful then the ki wave Snow had released when she finished transforming.  Then his heart almost stopped as he saw the comet looking ball of nuclear flame slam into Roshi.

* * *

Ichigo didn't know what had happened.  The sky lit up and a bright wave of heat passed by them.  It tingled, but didn't seem to serve any purpose.  Then she saw the swirling hurricane shaped disk of energy that circled around Roshi.  'What in the world is going on?"

* * *

Snow felt the energy pass by her and felt invigorated by it.  The warm radiation was harmless to her and it felt so good.  She looked to the sky to see where the blast had come from and instead saw the boy in the green and black gi.  He was forming some kind of attack.  He was had not died when she had hit him in the chest as she had thought.  "Why don't you DIE?!?!!?"  She screamed as she darted for him.  The energy ball that he seemed to be compressing looked large enough to really hurt.

He saw her approach and he changed the way he gripped the energy.  There was a reddish flash as the ball of energy expanded rapidly and washed over her.  Then it was gone.  It had barely warmed her armor, yet it had looked so dangerous.  Snow looked up and glared at the boy who now floated with his hands clenched together as though he were praying.

"Ha!  You best pray boy!  You're dead as soon as I get there!" She yelled.

The boy didn't seem to hear her he was too busy concentrating on his hands and sweating in fear.  'I cannot believe these Monkeys scared me!'  Snow laughed to herself as she shot at Roshi.

When she was no more then fifty meters away he looked up and smiled at her.  Snow realized something was up and she altered her coarse slightly.  Then the boy opened his hands and a swirling wicked looking black energy spilled from his hands.  Between his palms sat a tiny dot of black spinning energy.

The boy dropped towards the ground so that he was below her and then threw the dot of energy at her.  "Eat gravity Snow!"  He yelled as he released it.

Once out of his hands, the tiny black dot grew exponentially.  It expanded until it was a swirling black disk that sliced through the air.

* * *

Roshi watched in stunned disbelief as his great attack sliced through Snow's left cheek and ear before continuing off into space.  It cleaved right through her armor.  Her cheek and ear bled freely now.  But it had failed.  It had not killed her.

"NO!!!"  he yelled as Snow licked her cheek and then glared at him.  

"You have been an annoyance from the start boy.  Now you die!"  She charged at him and then dove flipping end over end in an attempt to slash him in half with her tail.

Roshi managed to move out of the way and she stopped spinning.  "Oh, so you think you can just jump out of the way?  Guess what?  That isn't going to work this time!"  She taunted.  "If you don't block this then you will all die!"  She cried before she leaned forward and brought her legs up. Then practically bent in half so that her arms and legs formed the four corners of a box, she fired one huge red beam that originated from all four extremities straight toward the ground.

"NOOOOO!!! KAIOKEN TIMES TWENTY!!!  Roshi screamed as he dove for the ground.  Once there he wasted not a moment before he fired off the largest possible Kamehameha back up at the red beam.

'I can't fail.  I have to stop this beam or we will all die!'  He thought as his muscles strained and protested the stress he was putting on them.

The Kamehameha struck the Red beam of energy about a third of the way from Roshi to Snow and instantly the two beams bulged and fattened as they pressed into each other and sought advantage over one or the other.

The two beams seemed equal at first, but then Snow grunted and her muscles bulged.  Her beam got fatter and the empowered beam began pushing Roshi's Kamehameha back.

"KAIOKEN TIMES TWENTY TWO!!!" Roshi cried as his skin began to steam.  The new power slowed the advance of Snow's beam, but could not stop it.

Naiccolo fired off a Makankosappo at Snow and hit her in the face, but that had no effect on her effort to destroy the planet.

Both Ichigo and Goshu added Kamehamehas to Naiccolo's efforts but neither could do anything.

'I can't hold it much longer,' Roshi thought as his knees gave out and he fell to the ground.  His heart was racing and his lungs burned.  Bile filled his mouth and he had to struggle for breath.  Roshi gave one last final scream and then his Kamehameha expanded and pushed Snow's back momentarily.  He struggled to his feet and felt his skin start to crack and tear as he continued to scream and build his Kaioken.

Snow grunted again and her beam became over twice as much larger then it had been.

Roshi screamed in pain as her red beam washed over him and forced him into the ground.

* * *

Ichigo got a horrible sense of déjà vu as she watched Roshi's Kamehameha fail and Snow's slam him back and into the ground.  Snow held her beam for a few moments more and then ended it.  Boiling lava shot from the hole she had made and she laughed.  "So the planet didn't blow up.  At least I am rid of that pest!"

But no, Ichigo could still feel Roshi.  He was still alive.  How he could possibly still be alive in that boiling tunnel of flowing lava was beyond her, but he was still alive.

If he could take that kind of damage so could she.  At least, she surmised as much.  'This fight is far from over,' Ichigo thought as she closed to attack.

* * *

'I failed,' Roshi thought as he flew out of the boiling lava. 'I'm just glad my aura kept the lava from touching me.  That could have really been hot.'  He thought as he surveyed the landscape.  For kilometers in every direction there existed nothing but devastation.  Lava bubbled and dust flowed.  In places small thunderstorms rained down torrents of water where in others the only thing darkening the sky was the brimstone smoke.

He still couldn't feel Tee.  Boxers and Yoshi were knocked out.  Ichigo and his father were on their last legs.  'I didn't make a difference.  I could have, I should have been smarter, or faster.  I just wasn't strong enough.  I couldn't do enough.'

Roshi had never wanted to be a hero.  He had spent most of his life avoiding attention.  Now seeing the devastation that this fight had wrought, he could not help to wonder about why it could have happened.

* * *

Up on Kaioshin's planet, Goku was breaking a mountain with his head.  

Kaioshin walked up and interjected.  "Now what is wrong?  I thought the fight was going fairly well."

"It was, but Roshi's pulling a Gohan and took lessons in self doubt from her!  If they don't believe they're going to die!"

'Well if that is the case, then that is what fate wanted.'  Kaioshin thought, but knew better then to say aloud around Goku. Kaioshin sighed to himself and walked away, leaving Goku with his problems.

* * *

"Roshi listen to me.  It's me Goku.  You need to believe.  You have what it takes.  Release your doubt.  You can do it.  Just release your doubt and believe in who you are."  Goku spoke into Roshi's mind as he tried to catch his breath.

'Easier said then done.'  Roshi sarcastically replied back in his head.

"What do you mean?  I don't understand.  Thought is action here.  It shouldn't be hard to understand I mean, even I could figure it out!"  Goku replied.

Roshi couldn't help but laugh as the numerous stories of Goku's stupidity filtered through his mind.  'Thanks Goku, I needed that.'

Roshi jumped into the air again and sped towards where the battle had moved off too.  As he approached, Snow turned to follow Ichigo's movements and caught sight of him approaching.  Her mouth dropped.  

"NOOOOO I KILLED YOU!!!  I KILLED YOU!!!  She screamed as she sent several eye laser blasts and small ki balls at him.

"I guess I'm a cat not a monkey I have lots and lots of lives!"  Roshi replied as he knocked the blasts away and then launched a large Kamehameha back at Snow.

From the looks of things Snow no longer cared about anything but killing Roshi.  She locked her eyes on him and sped for him.  Her muscles bulged and she picked up speed as she approached.

Roshi tried to duck under her attack, but she caught him with her tail and shredded his shirt and left a bloody gash down his back.

"AHHH!"  Roshi screamed as he twisted in flight and threw a few blasts at her.  Snow dodged them and then moved in close again.  She slammed her knee into his stomach and then slashed him in the face with her right hand.

Roshi tried to hit her back, but she grabbed his arm with her left hand and pulled him into her and delivered a solid head butt.  Roshi was stunned momentarily.  But in a battle for one's life, every moment counts.  Snow used that moment to reach out and clamp her right hand onto Roshi's neck.  She dug her claws into the muscles on the side of his neck and squeezed.

"Any last words Monkey?  I'm not letting go until you're good and dead this time.  I'm putting an end to you this time!"

"You might kill me but you can't kill what I am!"  Roshi rasped while Snow tightened her grip on his neck.

Snow laughed.  "Can't kill what you are?  What you are, is scum.  What you are, is worthless trash the universe took pity on.  What you are, is a waste of my time.  What you are, is one good afternoon of enjoyment."  Snow laughed as Roshi started to turn blue.

"You won't win"  Roshi gasped. As his hands started to lose their grip on Snow's arm.

Tunnel vision stated to take Roshi's eyesight.  He fought to stay conscious but he could not breathe, and his brain was not getting blood.  His lungs burned.  He felt like he was going to throw up.  Of course even if he had needed to, the pressure on his neck would not have let him.

Snow kicked him in the groin.  "Wake up Monkey.  I'm not done playing with you yet.  You're dieing far too easily.  After all those times you came back I would have thought you would have had a few more wise cracks to give me."

"Drop dead."

"Not in your lifetime I won't."  Snow laughed.  "You see Monkey you never had a chance."  Snow looked away.  "What's wrong Princess?  Aren't you going to help him?  I would laugh to watch that."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"  Naiccolo screamed as he flew in to hit Snow in the face.  Suddenly, Snow jerked Roshi to the right as she spun towards the attack.

Shlussckt!  She speared her left hand right through the center of Naiccolo's chest.  Purple blood escaped the Namekian warriors mouth as the fusion suddenly broke apart.

Nail fell away gasping for air leaving Piccolo cleanly speared on her arm.  Piccolo struggled to get off of her arm as she laughed.  She turn Roshi around so he could watch and shot her eye lasers directly into his head.

Piccolo's head exploded in a shower of purple blood.  Snow laughed even more maniacally and grabbed a piece of what had been Piccolo's head and ate it.

"Don't you see?  You never had a chance!"  She laughed as she once again tightened her grip on his neck.

Deep inside Roshi, something snapped.  Piccolo had trained him how to fight.  When his father had not wanted to show favoritism and had been busy with his other students, the young Namek had taught him all of Goku's old attacks.  He had taught him the Tri-form and the Masenko.  The two of them had spent days out in the wilderness enjoying nature and having fun.  Piccolo had been Roshi's first hero.  He had later become one of his best friends.  He had missed him the past few years while he had been on Namek.  Now, he was gone.

Deep within a wellspring of emotion and memory opened.  Deep within the pain found purchase.  Deep within his soul Roshi awakened himself.

Snow stopped laughing as Roshi began to scream.   

* * *

Hi.  I am sorry for taking so long.  I was also warned not to end this with a cliffhanger.  Well I am sorry to say that this chapter is long enough and I wanted to have a full chapter of Roshi's final fight with Snow.

Anyway, since I did leave quite the cliffhanger I will TRY my BEST to get the next chapter up THIS week.

Post note.  I did not mean to belittle the military in any way shape or form in this chapter.  The men and women who willingly fight and willing risk their lives to protect the freedoms and rights that make our world worth living in are heroes.

However, the military in DBZ is incompetent, so they were made to be such.

Special thanks to those who helped edit parts of this and to ChiefSamuriJack who gave me a few ideas that ended up becoming a few attacks you see here and may see later in the fic.

Please review.

The Smooster.


	42. In Her Eyes, His Pain

Sorry this is so late.  This chapter is dedicated to OmegaNY as a late Birthday dedication.  Please read and Review.

Chapter 42  
In Her Eyes, His Pain

June 25, 6:45 pm

Ichigo's chest hurt.  Her side ached with a sharp stabbing pain with each and every breath as her broken ribs ground against each other.  Her right lung had been punctured when Snow had kicked her.  Even now, blood caught in her throat and made breathing even more difficult.

As she gasped for breath and tried to will the pain away she watched helplessly when Snow grabbed and then started to strangle Roshi.

'No!' Her mind screamed as she watched on frozen from action by pain, and fear, which she would never admit to having.  'He saved me again.  I failed; I wasn't strong enough, or fast enough.  I failed and he saved me again and now I can barely keep flying while I watch powerless to stop her from killing him.' Ichigo started coughing again, breaking her chain of thought.  'No!  I can't just do nothing!  I have to do something!'  She thought as Roshi's face began to turn blue. 

"Drop dead." Roshi managed to gasp.

"Not in your lifetime I won't."  Snow laughed.  "You see Monkey, you never had a chance."  Snow said to Roshi before she turned to look directly into Ichigo's eyes and laughed.  "What's wrong Princess?  Aren't you going to help him?  I would surely laugh at such a pathetic attempt."

Ichigo pulled her right arm back to start charging a ki attack, but moving her arm away from where she had pressed it into her side caused her broken ribs to flex.  More blood welled in her throat and she started coughing again.

Off to her right, Naiccolo's ki spiked.  "THAT'S ENOUGH!"  He screamed as he flew in to hit Snow in the face.  

Ichigo didn't even see the attack.  Roshi jerked to the side and then the next thing she knew, Snow had made her attack.

Shlussckt!  She speared her left hand right through the center of Naiccolo's chest.  Purple blood escaped the Namekian warriors' mouths, as the fusion suddenly broke apart.

Nail fell away gasping for air, leaving Piccolo cleanly speared on her arm.  Piccolo struggled to get off of her arm as she laughed.  She turned Roshi around so he could watch and then shot her eye lasers directly into Piccolo's head.

Ichigo watched stunned as Piccolo's head exploded in a shower of purple blood.  Snow laughed even more maniacally and grabbed apiece purple gray flesh that had once been part of Piccolo's brain and greedily sucked it into her mouth.

"Don't you see?  You never had a chance!"  Snow laughed as she licked the purple blood off of her face.  Roshi struggled ineffectively as she once again tightened her grip on his neck.

Then suddenly, he stopped struggling.  Ichigo had tried to pay closer attention to not only her own ki, but to other's as well after her "Stopper Beam" had almost killed her.  She was now paying particularly close attention to Roshi's ki.

Dende and Goshu had told her that ki was formed by the connections between the Soul, the Mind, and the Body.  In a moment of time, Roshi stopped struggling.  In that moment of time his ki dropped away.  In that moment in time Ichigo felt the flickering candle's flame of hope she had kept throughout her journey snuff itself out.  In that moment of time in which time seemed to slow and stretch on into infinity Ichigo felt a part of Roshi's soul collapse in on itself.  Like a star with all of its fire snuffed out it faltered and caved in on itself.

Then, when she had almost let her hope slip away like a breeze through her fingers, the next moment of time slammed into her with the force of a star going nova.  

In that next infinitesimally short yet monumentally tangible moment in time Ichigo felt something that her mind could not grasp or explain yet was unquestionably real.  It was like the crack of a shattering crystal, or the flash of light from a camera.  It happened so fast she almost didn't catch the moment of change yet, she would never be able to forget what happened.

In that moment of time, Roshi's soul could collapse no further.  Like a nuclear bomb at critical mass it released the energy it could no longer contain.

Roshi's back arched suddenly as he gasped for air in Snow's grip. 

Snow stopped laughing when Roshi began to scream.

Ichigo felt Roshi's ki change but could not understand what was happening.  He screamed in Snow's grip and his body tensed as his ki built up like a fire consuming everything in its wake.

As Ichigo watched breathless and confused, Roshi's aura built and swirled around Snow's arm.  It flickered and flashed and pulsed an ever-brightening white light.

The ground began to shake as sweat appeared on Snow's face.  She reached over and tried to wring Roshi's neck with both hands, but he screamed on unfaltering.

The storm clouds that circled above churned, and soon the sky flashed with lightning as thunder shook the air.  The wind picked up from a slight breeze to a howling gale.

Ichigo's confusion did not ebb.  If anything the onslaught of nature that now befell the battle only added to her befuddlement.  'Where is he getting this kind of energy?'  She thought as she recalled her first fight with him.  'I thought I had him beaten, but I only managed to wake the power he hides within.  Why is it that he can have such power but I do not?  Where does he get it from?  Why can I never match him?'  Her mind plagued her as her own failure to stop Snow tore at her conscience.  

A sudden yellow sphere of ki flashed outward from Roshi and Snow was thrown away from him.  The ki ball washed over Ichigo and knocked her away like a feather caught in jet wash.

By the time Ichigo regained control over her flight, Roshi's aura was flashing yellow.  It reverberated a growing staccato.  Even from the far away distance she had been thrown, she could feel the power of that aura and the pressure of the sound it gave on her skin.

Roshi's scream grew louder and the flair of yellow ki grew with it.  Yellow energy swirled around and pushed the dark storming clouds aside.  A bright yellow shaft of sunlight fell over Roshi and blinded Ichigo for a moment.

'Damn!  Where is he finding this power?'  Ichigo wondered.  She was awed and envious, thankful and bitter.  Her mind sought understanding as Roshi's power continued to rise.  As his power grew and her understanding fell something tugged at her soul and she felt something that was familiar and right, while also unknown and frightening.

In the next, she saw Roshi bathed in the light of the sun, which had been hidden by the clouds of combat for the past hour.  Bathed in that majestic halo of sunlight and ki aura, Roshi's hair flickered then flashed gold.

Ichigo's eyes bulged in shock at what she saw Roshi's hair glow with white-gold light.  Finally her mind found purchase on what was happening.

'He's become a Super Saiyan!'  She realized with a gasp. 'This is incredible!'  Part of her was overjoyed at the sight of what Roshi had become.  The rest of her remembered Slip's painful words.   She also felt the shame of having to be saved by Roshi on numerous occasions and the deep hollow sense of failure.  

Ichigo felt her anger brewing and her sense of injustice at the whole situation grow.  'No, it is not right that he should be the one to clean up my mess.  It is not right that I should be denied the power.  But it is also not right for me to blame anyone but myself.  I don't believe Slip's words.  I will not fail again.  I will become a Super Saiyan.   It is right that Roshi stops Snow here at his home.  On Saiya, I will not let him carry my load.' 

* * *

The ground was shaking again.  Mariah cradled John's unconscious form closer, wishing he would wake.  'Why won't it stop?  Why? Why wasn't Roshi here to save us?'  She thought in the darkness as the ground groaned and the earth shook.

* * *

Caught between stunned disbelief, awed hope, and bitter anger, Ichigo's ribs no longer hurt nearly so much.  She watched on in a daze, aware only of the pains of the mind and soul.  The pains of the flesh were quickly forgotten.  'He really is a Super Saiyan.' 

Snow laughed, breaking Ichigo's chain of thought.  "Impressive light show boy.  First blue then red and now yellow.  So when this proves just as useless as the rest are you going to try green?"  Snow teased from where she was floating across the wind swept battlefield from Ichigo.

For what seemed like forever, Roshi did not move.  He stood in the air like a statue.  The only movement was that of his hair and his torn and tattered gi, which fluttered in the wind of his aura.  Then, Roshi slowly turned in the air to face Snow.

"You kill with no regard for the lives which you destroy.  You have no compassion for your victims, and you revel in their pain.  Like Frieza before you, you have laid waste to those who stand in your way.  Like Frieza before you, you have destroyed far too many lives.  Like Frieza before you, your reign of terror must end!" Roshi spat at Snow.

Snow kept laughing.  "Give it up boy you are no match for me."

"That right?"  Roshi asked, "Then why are you calling me boy now rather than Monkey?  You're afraid and you have a very good reason to be."

Snow obviously ran out of patience because she attacked.  She swan dived at Roshi with both of her arms out and as far back as they would go.  Her hands crackled with black and purple ki.

The energy Ichigo sensed was enormous.  The attack was devastatingly powerful, and Ichigo's mouth dropped open, as Roshi didn't move.  Snow's hands swept right through him.  Moments later the double image Roshi had left without Ichigo even sensing him move, faded away.

"I'm over here Lizard Brain!"  Roshi called out as he suddenly reappeared behind Snow and double handed hammer punched her in the back of the head.

"WHY YOU!"  Snow screamed as she bounced off the ground and then sent a massive red beam of ki up at Roshi.

Roshi just stood in the air and knocked the blast away like it was nothing.

Ichigo marveled envious, 'this isn't possible!  That blast was bigger than the one that almost killed him just a few minutes ago!'

"Wha... What are you?!  How can you just knock my attack away as though it were nothing?"  Snow screamed as she flew up at Roshi again. 

"I am the stuff of your nightmares you stupid bitch! I am a Super Saiyan.  I am the Universe's way of testing what happens when an unstoppable object meets an irresistible force.  I am the retribution that your crimes call out for.  I am your death!"  Roshi called down to Snow before diving down to kick her in the face. 

Snow cart wheeled through the air and almost hit Ichigo.

Roshi's eyes caught Ichigo's for the first time since his transformation and Ichigo saw that they had turned a glowing green with a hint of blue.  The sight was also unnerving.  Roshi's eyes held something unmistakable in them.  Something Ichigo had never seen in his eyes before.  Ichigo looked into the eyes of boiling festering uncontrolled hate.

"Get the hell out of here Ichigo!  You're useless here and just in the way!"  He yelled out at her.

Ichigo's eyes widened as her mouth dropped.  In his tone and in his face she didn't see the Roshi she knew, she saw Banana and all the pain he had caused.  Ichigo's anger spiked instantly.  "Why you arrogant bastard!  I have never been useless!"  She yelled too loudly for her lungs to take.  Blood gurgled in her throat and she broke down into a fit of coughs. 

Her senses suddenly screamed at her as she felt Snow launch several ki blasts in her direction.  She knew she was too slow to stop them and had only started to turn when Roshi suddenly disappeared and then was almost instantly between her and the incoming ki blasts. 

He knocked them away with what seemed like little effort and then turned to face Ichigo.  "I can't waste my time protecting you.  You are only in the way now.  Get the heck out of here!"

"How dare you!  After everything you said about teamwork and just everything HOW DARE you say I'M in the way!"  Ichigo yelled at him.  Specks of her blood now splattered his face, but he didn't seem to notice.  She pounded her left fist into his chest, but did not even budge him.  Her mind flashed to when Banana had mocked her calling Roshi her protector.  It played over all the words Roshi had ever said and finally came to rest on his spite filled words from the previous Monday.  "I don't need your protection!  I don't need you!  I hate you!"

Roshi pulled his hand back, and Ichigo was certain he was going to hit her.  His hand flew forward and by reflex, Ichigo closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable.  It was only in that last moment that she felt Snow's presence.  She felt Roshi grab her left shoulder and throw her quite forcefully out of the way.

Ichigo opened her eyes.  Roshi stood grasping Snow's left arm in his right and then the right with his left.  "Shove off you cold blooded freak, I was talking here!"

Ichigo floated stunned and looked Snow in the eyes.  She saw her eyes flash and before she could even move, Roshi had lunged and blocked the Eye Lasers with his own head.  He then forcefully flung Snow into the ground.

"I told you to SHOVE OFF!" He yelled at Snow.  "And I told you to go find Dende!"  He yelled at Ichigo with enough force to actually knock her back a few cm in the air.

Goshu appeared beside her and gripped her left shoulder.  "Please Ichigo, be rational, if he has to worry about hurting us, then his mind will not be focused on fighting Snow.  Please, come with me.  We can do nothing further here."

Roshi turned and glared balefully at her.  "Don't let your stupid pride get you killed!  Look at you, you are almost dead as it is.  Go find Dende!"

Ichigo glared right back into his eyes.  "And if I don't?"

Roshi's ki flared and the pure heat of his aura forced her back.  His face contorted in rage and he looked her dead in the eyes.  "I have time for this.  Leave.  If you do something stupid and get yourself killed, I swear I will find a way to bring you back just so I can kill you myself!"

"Why you miserable!!!"  Ichigo was cut off by several ki blasts Snow had fired off while the three Saiyans had been distracted.

Roshi danced out of the way of the blasts before firing off a massive one handed yellow blast back at Snow.  He then turned and glared daggers at Ichigo.  "Last chance, get the hell out of my way."

"You will NOT..." Ichigo never got to finish her sentence.  She didn't even have time to see the fog of darkness that enveloped her senses.  All she saw was the explosion of stars after Roshi hit her in the chin.

* * *

Ichigo came to with a dull ache behind her eyes.  She brought her left hand up and rubbed her face as she tried to recall what had been going on before she had been knocked out.  "Owwwh what hit me?"  She asked as she started to sit up.

Cool hands gently pushed down on her shoulders, "Dear child, relax and lay still, I am not done healing you yet." Dende said calmly.

His words were soothing and his tone calming, but his words bit.  

"For the last time, I am not a child!"  She practically growled at him as she lowered her hand and glared.

"Relax Ichigo, Dende is like five hundred and some odd years old.  If you haven't caught it he calls Goshu a child occasionally too."  Boxers said from where he was standing behind a large boulder watching the battle.

"Just because he's old doesn't give him the right to disrespect me.  I've asked not to be called that before."  Ichigo stated tersely.

Yoshi rolled over from where he had been laying.  While Dende had been able to heal the wound, he had not been able to restore Yoshi's lost arm.  The one armed man looked at her, shook his head and scoffed.  "You are amazingly petty to be upset at such a harmless thing in a time such as this."

Ichigo's mouth clicked shut as the rebuke hit home.  A bright flash of light lit the sky to the west.  Ichigo had no idea how long she had been out.  The ground suddenly shuttered violently.  It was obvious that Roshi still battled Snow, and a chill came over Ichigo as she realized both seemed to be fighting at equal power.

She looked at Yoshi and frowned.  She felt responsible for what had happened, and the guilt over maiming a capable warrior weighed heavy on her heart.  "You are right to rebuke me.  My words were misplaced."

"There, you may get up now.  You are healed, but remember I cannot restore your lost energy so take caution."  Dende said quietly.

Ichigo sat up and immediately pulled her loose hair away from her face and grumbled.  The wind was blowing too fiercely to allow her to easily braid it back into place.  After about a minute of fussing with it, Ichigo gave up and let her wild hair just spike up and fall where it wanted.

The wind blew it over her face again.

"Would anyone happen to have something I could tie this unruly mass back with?"  Ichigo asked from beneath the enveloping mass of her hair.

Dende laughed kindly, "you have brought a small bit of laughter to this battle, and while not your intention it has lifted our spirits greatly.  I believe you would like more than just a ribbon for your hair though correct?"  He asked before Ichigo felt an odd tickling sensation and found herself wearing a gray-blue version of a Namekian gi complete with white shoulder pads and cape.

A blue ribbon was also resting in her hands.  Ichigo quickly tied her hair into a semi-controlled ponytail.  "Thank you."

Dende just shook his head.  "Even after watching people on this planet interact for over five hundred years I do not fully understand your sexes.  I do however know that generally women do not like being nearly unclothed while around men."  He said neutrally before walking away to look for other wounded.

Ichigo blushed furiously at his comment, realizing just how little of her gi and body suit had been left.

The ground shook again.  In the distance an explosion rumbled menacingly.

"Where is Tee?  Did Snow kill him?"  She asked haltingly. Yoshi's injuries gnawed on her conscience and he was alive, while an honorable death was not frowned on for a warrior, she hated to think that Tee might have been killed.

Boxers grimaced and looked down.  "I don't know.  I... I don't know what happened to him.  Snow hit us, and our fusion failed.  I think I passed out.  I... I can't sense him anymore."  He finished with tears welling in his eyes while he shook his fists in frustration.  

"That doesn't mean anything.  With all the ki Roshi and Snow are bleeding off just breathing right now it is distracting.  Just because you can't sense him does not mean he is dead."  Goshu said firmly from where he stood beside Boxers.

Ichigo walked up to stand on Boxers's left.  She looked at the battlefield and opened her senses to it as well.  Goshu was right.  Ki was bleeding off of the two fighting warriors like radiation from a sun.  It mixed and churned like a choppy sea.  Eddies and whirlpools of it spun through the air creating small eruptions of energy, which played over the battlefield while the two lit the air with their major attacks.

It was an impressive thing to witness and it called to Ichigo's senses.  Her deep desire to win her battles on her own welled up in her mind.  'I should be the one fighting Snow.  It was my duty.  It was my fate that caused these events.  I should not be standing here denied my right.'  Ichigo thought bitterly.

In the air above them, Roshi and Snow traded blow for blow.  Both were about equal power with Roshi having a slight lead in both speed and strength.

Ichigo ground her teeth.  'Petty, I am being petty.  I am not going to just stand here and watch lamenting about fate.  Fate is not something that is given; it is something that is earned.  Roshi has earned the power he now possesses.  I can only choose to work harder until I too achieve such ends.'  Ichigo thought as she decided to watch what she could see, and learn all that could.

Snow screamed a string of curses at Roshi and proceeded to fire off an equally ineffective string of ki blasts.

'She looks almost as flustered as I feel,' Ichigo thought allowing herself a bit of a smile.  Her small smile blossomed into a full-blown grin of pride as she watched Roshi send Snow crashing into the ground after being hit by a Ki Punch.

The ground exploded outward in a wave of rock and lava as Snow burst from her hole.  Lightning crackled and sizzled around her as her brilliant red-black aura blazed.

"Um, is it just me, or did she just get stronger?"  Boxers asked sounding unsure of himself.

Nail frowned.  "She did.  I believe from the accounts from Namek, Frieza didn't actually reach his maximum until after Goku was already a Super Saiyan."

Dende sighed.  "Goku told Piccolo the story of what happened on Namek many years after the fight.  From what he said, once Frieza reached his maximum he only fought for a few minutes before he started to weaken to the point where he became desperate and blew up the planet."

"Snow is continuing to grow stronger.  Roshi has lost the edge he once had in this fight.  If what you say is true, however, he only needs to hang on a few more minutes."  Ichigo replied.

Boxers scoffed.  "Yeah, but in this battle those minutes are going to seem like centuries.  Centuries where all we can do is watch and hope."

"Who said anything about just watching?"  Ichigo replied.  "Look, I'm not one to do nothing.  I've never really liked Tee much.  I think his purple hair is the main reason.  It is... just freakish.  Anyhow, as I was saying I never really liked the purple haired freak, but I'm also not going to just stand here not knowing if he is dead or alive.  I'm going to go look for him."

Boxers's jaw dropped partially open before he caught himself.  "Right, I should have done that already."

Ichigo nodded, "so, where about were you fighting when you got knocked out that would probably be a good place to start looking.

Boxers looked sheepishly at the battle site and then pointed off to the left of where Roshi and Snow were currently fighting.  I think I was over there."

"Fine," Ichigo said as she ducked allowing several boulders an errant ki blast had knocked up to fly past her head, "I am going over there to start looking."

Ichigo took to the air in search of Tee, but she kept watch on the fight as well.  She had no intentions of getting too close to it. 

Ichigo cringed when an ugly purple pulsating blast of ki hit Roshi.  He was sent cartwheeling into the sky where he was hit by several more blasts.  

'Roshi's power level is dropping.  This is not good.' Ichigo thought as she scanned the rocky ground for any sign of Tee.

* * *

Teddy's stomach did another flip as the ground shook again.  'Who would have thought that their fighting would shake the whole planet.  I don't even want to think about the structural damage this is doing.'

The jury-rigged emergency power was holding steady, but that didn't alleviate any of Teddy's worries.  If anything, it made them worse as she was getting damage assessment information from all over the world in faster than she could read them.

Then the GKSS started wailing again.  Teddy fought down the rising bile and took a drink of water before she turned to look at the dire information she knew her screen would have.

**_Changeling, Forth stage, Current = 32,000,500.  
Roshi, Super Saiyan, Current = 29,900,000, Max Super Saiyan = 30,500,000, Max Normal = Unknown._**

"Oh Dende no!" Teddy gasped, "Roshi made it to Super Saiyan, but if the Changeling is not at its maximum...  I don't want to think about if the Changeling isn't at its maximum!"

Teddy emptied yet another antacid bottle.

* * *

Ichigo turned over yet another burned and beaten body.  She sensed life, but wasn't sure if it was Tee.  It didn't matter, whoever or whatever it was, but it didn't deserve to die on a beaten and broken battlefield.

Before the fight, the land Ichigo stood on had been fertile farmland with dark black dirt.  The fresh earthy sent of the flowers and fruits of the plains had greeted them.  Now, the land was pock marked with devastation.  The heat of not only the ki blasts but also the lava those blasts had released from the bowels of the planet had burned off all plant life.  The once fertile soil had been beaten until it formed rocks hard as concrete.  In many places the heat had turned that rock into glass.

No longer did the battlefield smell of grass and earth.  Now it stank of brimstone, burned flesh, and decay.

Ichigo finally reached the life she had sensed, but it wasn't Tee.  She pulled a broken body off of the woman and pulled her over so that she lay on her back.  The woman's brown eyes were glazed over.  Blood was matted all over her uniform.  Ichigo saw the gapping wound in her side and knew the woman was soon to pass on.  The sight of such a waste of life churned Ichigo's stomach.

The woman's eyes focused on Ichigo for a moment, then they fogged as she took her last ragged breath.

"Damn it all!" Ichigo yelled into the wind as she once again took to the air.  She looked at the devastation that surrounded her and sought desperately to sense Tee's ki.

Not overly far away from her Roshi continued to fight.  

"Masenko!"  Roshi yelled moments before he released a glowing yellow ball of ki.

Snow tried to blow it up with a ki blast, but it relentlessly moved forward.  It slammed into her and drove her into the ground.  Dirt rock, and bodies were blasted into the air in the wake of the explosion and the earth shook.

Ichigo grimaced and shook her head absent-mindedly.  The fight was impressive in both the destruction and the seemingly apparent disregard for the actual amount of damage being done.

'This battle is wrong.  Roshi is different.  In our first fight, he threw himself into a huge ki blast to save innocent lives.  Yet now he fights directly over the dead and dieing.'

Ichigo focused on Roshi for a moment and sensed the change in his ki.  "He is different, and it is more than just a change in power.  His ki feels odd, altered."  She said to herself perplexed.

Then a memory from her past hit her.

* * *

In the courtyard of the ruined palace of the former capitol at Orchard Point there stood a golden statue.  It was a statue of the Super Saiyan.

Orchard Point had been the Summer Palace before the Civil War.  In the last major battle of that war those who were following the Vegeta family laid siege to the Palace.  Over 500,000 warriors met their death in that battle. 

After the war, the King turned the former Capitol into a monument and memorial.  It would serve forever as a reminder to those who came after of the carnage of that war.  It also became a cemetery for the fallen.

It was where her mother had been buried.

Ichigo was five when her mother died.  Even now she did not like thinking about the days surrounding her mother's death, but one memory stood out.

After her mother had been buried and the guards had left, only her father and Ichigo remained within the burrows of the point.  Her father had whispered some last words to her mother's grave and then stood before turning and kneeling in front of Ichigo.

"Dry your tears, my child.  Your mother would not want you to cry now." He said softly before wiping the tears off of Ichigo's cheeks.

"Can you be strong now Ichigo?  Don't cry now, but remember the good memories.  Hold on to them now and don't fret at the bad."

Ichigo wiped her eyes again and looked at her father.  He looked sad, yet hopeful.  He was all she had left and she would have done anything to make him happy right then.

She forced a smile and looked up at her father.  "I be strong."

Her father smiled and shook his head.  "Yes, you will, you will be strong."  He replied, accenting the word will, to remind her she had forgotten it.

He then led her out a different way from how they had entered the cemetery.  He led her in to a large courtyard that overlooked the black cliffs Orchard Point had been famous for.

Once there, they stopped in front of a large golden statue of an ancient Saiyan warrior.  Her father bowed before it and said a few mumbled words.

"Father, what are you saying?"

Her father looked over at her and smiled sadly.  "I am paying my respects.  This is the statue of the Super Saiyan.  Long before the civil war that destroyed this place, he lived and saved all of our people.  It is said that he will return if we are ever threatened in such a manner again."  He sighed.  "I do not truly believe such stories, but I still honor his memory."

Ichigo looked up at the statue for a long while.  "Why's he so sad?  I thought he was spossed ta be a really great warrior."

"Why is, and Sup-Pos-ed to be, Ichigo, you must not slur your speech."  He said while he ruffled her hair.

"DADDY!!  You did not tell me why he looks so sad!"  

"He is sad because his is a painful story, one that I do not wish to tell today."

Ichigo knew when to back down, but there were few things that her father wouldn't tell her when she asked, so her curiosity was peeked.

She would later learn why her father did not wish to tell the story of the Super Saiyan on that particular day.  The Super Saiyan's story was one of loss and it cut too closely to the heart so soon after Ichigo's mother had died.

The Super Saiyan had been King.  During his reign, the Merzaid a race of beings who called themselves "The Righteous" had attacked Saiya.  The Merzaid were probably equal in power with the Changelings and easily as cruel.

During the attack the Merzaid had rounded up many people to be used as slaves or just to be taken elsewhere.  From what little was still remembered from that day, apparently the King had destroyed a transport that had been carrying his wife and son, killing them in the process.

When he realized what he had done, he went mad with rage.  Whether he was a Super Saiyan before that happened or not had been forgotten by history, but his rage was never forgotten.

Few but Ichigo's family actually knew or cared for the whole story.  It was so much simpler for people to remember his legendary power, but not the problems that power created.  The King went on to destroy not only all the Merzaid on Saiya, but also their home world and any world he found them on.  He single-handedly killed an entire race and that legacy had kept many would be conquerors away from Saiya for millennia.

However, even with his rage spent, the King never found peace.  He never found joy again.  Ichigo remembered distinctly what her father had said to her the day he finally told her the story.

"He had found the power to overwhelm and vanquish his foes, but he could never regain what he had lost.  He died a broken, bitter and lonely man.  Ultimate power comes with a price, and the more power one wields, the more they have to pay.  It is why our family is still the Royal family.  Few have our abilities my daughter, and even fewer have what it takes to lead responsibly."

Ichigo hadn't said anything, so her father continued.  "The story is not all sad though, when the King who had become a Super Saiyan died, he only remaining child his daughter, your namesake, took the throne.  As Queen, she restored much that had been lost during her father's reign.  When it comes time for you to take up the throne, my daughter, never forget that you, like your namesake before you are capable of great things.  Never let anyone define you or your role."

* * *

An explosion ripped Ichigo out of her thoughts.  The pressure wave swept over her and knocked her to her knees on the glassy broken ground.  Ichigo managed to get back up and look about for signs of what had happened.

Roshi had been knocked into a sheet of cooling lava.  He was flat on his back and did not seem to be moving.  The surface of the still hot rock cracked like ice.  Red-hot molten rock seeped through the cracks and threatened to consume him.

Snow laughed mockingly from above and came to hover directly above him.  "So, even your lauded Super Saiyan is no match for me.  You monkeys are all pathetic."

Had Ichigo not been able to sense ki she would have been surprised, but since she could, she knew Roshi had not lost any energy and had only duped Snow.

Ki flared out of Roshi's hands and forced him upwards and at Snow like a rocket blasting from a launch pad.  Snow was caught suspended in air like a manikin with its strings cut.  She was only starting to react when Roshi flipped his hands around and fired off the largest Kamehameha Ichigo had ever seen.

Snow was sent hurtling towards space.  However, she quickly righted herself and fired an even larger pink beam back at Roshi.

"Masenko!!!"  Roshi screamed as he threw a huge yellow ki ball out to deflect the pink beam.

Snow took advantage of the situation by swinging around and slamming into Roshi's side.  He skipped like a stone over smooth water right into a clay hillside several km away.

Ichigo watched in shock as a sudden huge yellow burst of ki simply obliterated the hillside and everything for hundreds of meters around it.

Ichigo chewed her tongue and tried to figure out what she could do.  Her memory moved to a conversation she had had with Roshi right after their first fight.

* * *

"How powerful are you when you are going all out?"  She had asked.

Roshi got a far away look in his eyes.  "I don't know.  With the exception of that split second when I lost it, I have never gone all out before.  I can't afford to."

"Why not? I don't understand."

Roshi looked her in the eyes.  "We fought for a little over a half of an hour and our fight created a huge thunderstorm.  We altered nature by our actions.  I can't afford to be so reckless with my abilities.  I could never live with myself if I lost control and people got hurt needlessly because of my actions."

* * *

"Roshi."  She whispered to herself.  "You have gained enormous power.  I only fear to wonder what it has cost your soul."  She said to herself as she looked at all the ragged bodies and devastated earth the battle had caused.

Not knowing what else to do, Ichigo flew back to where Goshu and the others were.  "Goshu, can you feel the change in Roshi's ki?"  She asked as she landed.

Goshu nodded slowly.  "Yes, I'm starting to worry.  I don't know what his ki should feel like, but it reminds me terribly of the times where he is acting more on instinct then thought."

'Like when he is enraged.'  Ichigo thought to herself.  'Ki is created by the connections between mind, body, and soul.  Roshi told me that Super Saiyans resulted not from desire, but from necessity.  When Roshi went Super Saiyan it felt like a part of his soul had collapsed.'

"Could the Super Saiyan just be how our minds and bodies reply to a wounded soul?"  She suddenly blurted to herself.

"What was that?"  Goshu asked sounding alarmed.

Ichigo looked up to see Snow drive Roshi back with a series of blows.  Then, Roshi's aura flared again and he counter attacked.

His ki was shifting further and further from what could be considered normal.

Ichigo couldn't take it any longer.  She took off and flew up towards were Roshi was knocking Snow back.

Snow fell to the ground and Roshi started to charge a very large Kamehameha.

'No! I'm not letting him lose himself in my battle!'  Ichigo thought to herself as she pushed herself to greater speed.

"Stop Roshi!  You are not like Snow!  You are good, and kind and valiant and you are not like this!  I might react like you are, but you are not even like me.  Do not fight her on her terms.  You will only lose in the end!"  Ichigo shouted up at him when she got between himself and Snow who was still on the ground.

Roshi glared at her.  Emotions rolled along his face as he fought his internal demons.  "I need to kill her.  Get out of my way."

Ichigo blanched, she wanted, needed Snow to die, but Roshi didn't even realize the danger he posed.  "No, not like this.  Not with the whole of the Earth in the way if you should miss.  You must not be willing to make that sacrifice.  You are not like this.  You should not be willing to kill at all costs."  Ichigo said while thinking, 'what am I saying?  How can I be saying this?'

A look of surprise bloomed on Roshi's face as though he suddenly realized what he had about done.  "Ichigo, I... you..." he said as his expression softened.

Ichigo was about to reply when a cold clawed hand grabbed her by the back of the neck.  "My my, now this is interesting.  You seem to be pleading for my life!  I would keep you around just out of curiosity, but I find your entire race loathsome!"  Snow said as her hand tightened on Ichigo's neck, and her claws pierced her skin.

Roshi flinched.  Ichigo didn't see what happened.  It happened to fast for her to catch.  One moment she was caught in Snow's grip.  The next she was falling towards the ground.

She crashed head first into the rocky ground and flopped onto her back.  The world swam and her vision blurred for a bit.  

Ichigo shakily got to her feet.  She felt light headed.  Something warm and wet was trickling down her right side.  It flowed over her shoulder and seeped to below her collarbone to her sternum and then down over her stomach.  Ichigo looked down to see the blood she knew would be there slowly staining her gi brownish red.

She brought her hand up to her neck and then back away.  Blood coated her fingers.  Snow had punctured one of her the veins or arteries in her neck.  It wasn't a fast loss of blood, but it was deadly.

Ichigo remembered the Senzu bean that she had hidden in the left cup of her bra.  She realized that it would save her.  Then she saw Tee.

Tee was lying on his back across a flowing river of lava from her.  His legs had been crushed by a boulder and on arm had been burned by the lava.  He was horribly injured, but he was alive.

Above her, Roshi and Snow plummeted towards the ground holding each other locked in a death grip.  The shockwave produced when the spiraling mass of energy and flesh slammed into the ground, threw debris up for nearly a kilometer.

The ground shifted beneath Ichigo's feet as new cracks formed in the rocky earth.  Fresh lava bubbled out of these cracks and was rapidly beginning to cover the earth in the region in its all-consuming swath of destruction.

Ichigo scanned the area.  Above her Roshi and Snow continued to trade blows.  The percussion of those blows rocked the ground and helped to break the shifting earth asunder.  To her left was the flowing river of lava released early in the fight by one of Snow's beams.  To her right was the caldera and growing lake of molten rock formed since Roshi turned Super Saiyan.

Ichigo looked back at Tee's broken form.  'I can't go get help, I'll never make it in my state, and I can't afford to move you in the state that you are in.' She shook her head.  'Which leaves me only one choice.'

Ichigo was not for the first time grateful for the Namekian gi she now wore as she quickly untied her obi and reached up the blouse portion of the gi to retrieve the senzu bean she had carried with her since the fight with Banana.

Much to her chagrin, the small amount of remaining elastic fabric in the strap of her bra broke the moment she touched it.

To make matters worse, at some point during her fight with Snow, the senzu bean had been shattered.  It was now nothing more then a mass of sand sized pieces which had in turned soaked up her sweat, and some of her blood, and were now stuck to her skin.

A sudden geyser of lava caused her to stop thinking of how ridiculous she looked at the moment digging in her shirt.  She quickly pulled as many of the pieces as she could feel off of herself and into the palm of her hand.

'Well I hope this works.'  She thought as she carefully pushed the bean pieces into Tee's mouth.  A small piece, about the size of a grain of sand stuck to her fingertip.  She looked at it and then after forcing Tee to swallow the pieces she had given him, chewed on that last piece.

As Tee stirred, Ichigo hoped that small piece would be enough to slow the bleeding just a little longer.

"Ichigo?"  Tee said as he suddenly woke.  "Ichigo!"

"Get me to Dende.  I need..." Ichigo said as she finally passed out from blood loss.

* * *

High above them Roshi waited for Snow's next attack.  He looked down and saw Tee scoop Ichigo up and race towards where he could feel Dende, his father, Yoshi, Nail, and Boxer's waited.

'Hurry Tee, get her to Dende.  Then get the hell out of here.  I have a Changeling to kill.  I almost went to far once, I can't let that happen again, I can't let you guys get hurt because of me.'

* * *

Well there is chapter 42.  Please Review.  I expect this to be a rather controversial chapter.  So please give me your opinions as they are very important to me.

I would also like to invite you to something Omega NY set up.  It has a few neat polls and a few pics and some other neat stuff.  Check it out!

Anyway, thanks for reading.

The Smooster :) 


	43. When Right is Equal to Wrong

This chapter is a late birthday dedication to SSJ Mirai Trunks

Chapter 43

When Right is equal to Wrong

Wednesday, June 25th around 7:00 pm

Roshi watched Tee carry Ichigo toward where he could feel the others waiting.  'Hurry Tee, get her to Dende. Then get the hell out of here. I have a Changeling to kill. I almost went to far once, I can't let that happen again, I can't let you guys get hurt because of me.'

Snow took advantage of his momentary distraction to fling a large nuclear green ball of ki at him.  Roshi sensed it coming and easily knocked it into space.  He then turned to face her.

"You know, for all your big talk you don't have much to back it up."  Roshi snidely taunted Snow while thinking, 'IDIOT what was that?  An attempt to make her mad and get her to actually fight?!?'

Snow turned to glare at him and her blood red eyes flashed as she gnashed her teeth.  "You insolent little ape how dare you mock me.  No one has ever done such and lived."

"First time for everything."  Roshi grunted as she grabbed him and threw him into the ground.

Roshi bounced off of an obsidian boulder and shot back at her.  Just before he reached her, he drew back his arm and charged his fist with ki.

"Ki Punch!" He screamed as he drove his right hook into Snow's cheek.

The punch connected.  Yellow-green ki surged around and into Snow's face.  Within a moment's time Snow was thrown back several meters and sent into a falling spin.

Roshi followed through with a one handed Masenko.  The yellow energy ball missed but forced Snow further from Roshi's family and friends.

Snow slowly regained control over her fall and righted herself.  Wispy threads of smoke separated her and Roshi, distorting Roshi's ability to see her.  However, he could still see the blood trickling out of her left ear.

* * * 

Teddy's fingers were bleeding.  She had gnawed on her fingernails enough to cause them to bleed.  The coppery taste of blood in her mouth brought her back to reality, but did nothing to calm her nerves.  The world continued to shake every so often and the GKSS was not painting a very reassuring picture.

**_Changeling, Forth stage, Current = 30,000,500.  
Roshi, Super Saiyan, Current = 29,900,000, Max Super Saiyan = 30,500,000, Max Normal = Unknown._**

Roshi's power level had not gone down any in the last several minutes of constant combat, but it had not gone up either and Snow was still stronger than he was.  One wrong move and everyone would be dead.

Teddy stood up and looked around her control room.  Her employees were no longer directing or relaying information, but rather were now just as terrified as she was of the current battle that was going on.

Teddy reached up and quickly turned off the GKSS feed causing an uproar of fear and worried voices.

"Listen up.  There is nothing more we can do to help in this battle.  However, there are many people around the world who have suffered on this day.  We can help them.  We have our security forces scattered around the world.  We need to start directing them so that they can help the people who have been hurt."  Teddy said calmly.

She then brought up a crisis map showing problems they knew of.  While the screens were already quite full, icons and warning signs continued to appear on the maps at a rapid pace as the many satellites and systems of the massive information network Capsule Corp. controlled worked.

"First priority is getting power and phone services back up.  Contact as many employees as we need and send them to where they will do the most good.  If they won't help find out why and log it."  She said as she realized she had sent most of her employees home.  She doubted many would want to leave their families in a time like this, but she had to hope enough would.

She looked down at her screen, which still showed Roshi fighting, just in time to see him get thrown back by several bright red energy blasts.  'Please don't fail Roshi.  The weight of the world rests on your young shoulders.  Don't let that weight fall.'

* * *

Ichigo's wounds slowly closed and her bleeding stopped.  Her breathing became more normal and finally her eyes opened.  Dende gave a small sigh. "Rest dear child.  You have fought valiantly.  However, your fight today is over."

Ichigo quickly sat up.  "I'm still sore.  Why didn't you completely heal me?"  She asked sounding annoyed.

Dende sadly shook his head and leaned heavily on his staff.  "Calm yourself child.  I have several reasons, not the least of which is that I am an old man.  I dare not waste my energy healing you completely until I know Roshi will not need my help later.  Also, I do not want you to exert yourself too much.  Your body needs to heal normally and right now you have not the strength to continue to fight effectively."

Ichigo's loose hair seemed to flair out a bit as her anger grew.  "Who are you to judge my ability to fight?  It is not in my nature to sit out and let others do my duty.  Now heal me so I can help Roshi.  Or can't you feel that he is still weaker than Snow?"

Lightning lit the sky before anyone could reply and rain began to fall.  Boxers quickly found large up-thrust segment of rock, which he could stand under to stay out of the storm.

"Looks like Roshi's brought the rain again!"  He shouted over the wind.  While they all knew Roshi had little or no control over the weather, the simple amount of heat and energy being released by no only the fight but the damaged caused by the fight caused havoc with the natural weather patterns.

While the others followed Boxer's to shelter, Tee grabbed Ichigo's wrist and tried to pull her toward the shelter.

"She jerked her hand back and glared at him.  "Don't touch me!" She yelled before quickly walking to cover.

"Ya know you really have a problem relaxing."  Tee said defensively once he joined the rest of the group under the overhang.

Ichigo ignored him and glared at Dende and Goshu.  "I demand you finish healing me so I can fight."  The ground shook and several of them winced as Roshi's ki fell momentarily.  "If you all want to be cowards and hide here is your choice but I'm not done fighting."

Goshu casually took two steps forward and swept Ichigo's feet from beneath her.  She fell onto her back with a solid impact.

"What the HELL was that for!" She screamed as she jumped to her feet.

Goshu calmly grabbed her fist and held it as she struggled to knock him back.  "That was to make you see reason.  You are weakened from your fighting.  Your stomach has not stopped rumbling since even before Dende brought you back from the brink of death for the second time tonight.  If you had half the brains as you have will to kill yourself you would realize that you can do no help and might even hinder Roshi if you went out and fought!"

"I will not sit by while other's fight my battles for me!"  Ichigo yelled back.  Her ki flared a bright blue accenting her emotions.

"Well you're not."  Boxers said from where he stood.  "This is our world.  The people who will live or die today are not your people.  They are our friends and family.  When Roshi convinced us to fight rather then send you away this became our fight.  It may have started as your fight and Snow may have thought she was coming only for you, but we chose to fight her.  Don't slander us or Roshi by claiming we are only mercenaries or otherwise only in this cause of you."

Ichigo glared at him for a moment and then stared off into the storm.

"Roshi is much calmer now.  He is more in control of himself."  Nail commented from the back.

Goshu nodded.  "Ichigo, you need to relax.  This is Roshi's fight now.  At times it takes more bravery and courage to admit you cannot fight than it does to throw your life away in a hopeless fight.  There is nothing wrong with not being able to continue the fight."

Ichigo turned to scowl at him.  "Perhaps on your world this is so.  But I am the Princess.  I cannot show weakness.  Any weakness.  I have to keep fighting!"

Dende sighed.  "Dear child, whatever you did for Roshi did more for this fight than any one of us.  He was lost in his rage until you intervened.  Now he is fighting with his whole mind, body, and soul.  You have fought.  You have not shown weakness.  Roshi is holding his own now because you helped him.  Do not throw that all away."

Ichigo relaxed.  "This is Roshi's fight at the moment but please heal me fully just in case he fails.  I need to know I can fight at my best if I need to."

Dende managed to control his surprise better than the rest of them, however his shock was still evident.  "Oh dear child, that I can agree to.  But first, tell us how you knew how to help Roshi."

Ichigo blinked a few times and stared off into the storm.  For several long moments the only sounds were the howling of the wind, the crash of thunder and the explosions and impacts of the now quite distant fighting.

"I don't know how I knew.  I just... felt it.  When he became a Super Saiyan I felt something die within him.  I guess I could sense the pain of his soul.  He needed to remember who he was and what he fought for."

Dende and Goshu exchanged knowing looks.  They had both sensed something wrong with Roshi, but obviously not to the extent Ichigo had.  Dende more then anyone else had suspicions as to what this meant.  Boxers and Nail on the other hand just looked puzzled.

"But what did you sense?  I knew he wasn't fighting normal, but I missed something."  Boxers asked.

"Um, excuse me," Tee interrupted.  "I was sorta knocked out during all this what the heck are you guys talking about?"  Tee asked once it became apparent to him that there was more than meets the eye going on. 

Ichigo realized Dende and Goshu were looking at her with an odd mixture of respect and apprehension, and it bothered her.  "Nothing, you missed absolutely nothing."

* * * 

Rain pelted down cooling the lava and extinguishing the fires of the battlefield.  Billowing waves of steam and fog rose from the ground obscuring vision as the storm soaked everything, except for Snow and Roshi.  The waves of ki emanating from each of them was more than enough to evaporate any water long before it got close to their skin.

Lightning flashed around them as Roshi stalked Snow.  'She can't sense ki!  This storm and all the fog is giving me a huge advantage!' Roshi thought to himself as he threw two ki blasts from each hand.  He had launched the blasts sideways and they circled around to hit Snow from both her left and her right.

"Raaahhh damn you coward!  Stop hiding in this ridiculous fog and fight me you stupid monkey!"  Snow bellowed before unleashing a torrent of small ki blasts.

Roshi only had to block a few of them, while he let the rest just pass right by him.  "You are getting sloppy.  Even if those blasts had hit me they wouldn't have done any damage."  Roshi taunted back to her.

Snow suddenly took off back towards the initial battlefield.  'Where the heck does she think she is going?'  Roshi thought as he dove down closer to the ground and the dense fog, before taking off to follow her.

In the distance he felt her land on something.  Something big.  'What on Earth?  Oh it's her ship!  How did she know her ship was right there?'  

The large saucer ship's engines suddenly burst to life and the ship started to ascend.

"Oh no you don't you bitch.  You've killed way way to many people for me to let you retreat!"  Roshi yelled as he dove for Snow, who was still standing on the roof of her ship.

"YEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  Snow yelled, brilliant red ki burst from her hands and shot toward Roshi.

Roshi pulled up and twisted to the side allowing the beam to shoot harmlessly past him.  He then swept down and slammed into Snow knocking her from the top of her ship and into a ruined tank.

Roshi jumped off and drove his knee into her head when he landed.  "Looks like your ship is leaving without you."

"You'll pay for that you ugly monkey!"  Snow screamed moments before slamming both hands together on either side of Roshi's knee.

Roshi screamed in pain as something in his knee popped.  Still grasping his leg at the knee, Snow lunged forward and swung him around.  She sliced through the plate armor of the tank with Roshi's head, and followed that up with a hammer throw.  Roshi was flung directly onto newly hardened lava.  The impact shattered the lava flow as though it were made of glass and sulfurous vapors hissed from the cracks.

"No monkey is going to beat me.  I won't allow it you stupid insignificant wretch!"  Snow screamed as she brought her hands down in a slicing motion towards Roshi.  Two purple bladelike wedges of ki shot from her hands and had Roshi not rolled out of the way would have eviscerated him.

Roshi rolled to the side at the last moment and swept his left foot up.  A crescent moon shaped blade of ki shot out at Snow and nicked her right arm as she dodged to the side.  More purple-pink blood seeped though her thick armored hide.

Roshi hopped to his feet and winced as his right knee popped and groaned as he put weight on it.  'That was careless and stupid Roshi.  She is still physically stronger and more massive than you are.  Don't let her use it to her advantage.'

Realizing he was weakest while fighting near the ground where the heat of the former lava field kept the fog from forming, Roshi leapt into the air.

Snow followed him with a plethora of ki blasts, none of which hit him, and a ceaseless stream of insults.

"Would you just shut up?"  Roshi yelled as he threw several blue-white orbs of ki past her.

Lightning lit the prematurely darkened evening sky illuminating Snow's enraged face.  Her blood red eyes were now somewhat pinkish as her eyes bled from wounds received in the battle.  Cuts on her ear and cheeks seeped, and a swollen lip trailed blood as well.  But even with the damage Roshi had dealt, Snow had barely slowed.

"You are not getting away from me you stupid MONKEY!!!"  She screamed with black-red ki bursting from her body.  She opened her mouth wide and a vicious purple-black beam of energy snaked from it.

The beam of ki struck and enveloped Roshi within it.  Black energy crackled and burned as it squeezed him.

"GEAAAAHHH" Roshi screamed out in pure agony as the energy wrenched him back as though he were on some sort of mid-evil rack.

"Oh you like that do you?  Here have some more!"  Snow taunted.  She threw several black balls of energy into the grasping spiraling matrix of ki Roshi had become trapped in.  The new energy increased the strain placed on his body and burned his skin as it sizzled about him.

"How does it feel to be strangled to death by the crushing might of a Changeling?"  Snow teased.  "I'm going to enjoy this.  I'm going to make you suffer for every scratch, and every bruise you have given me.  By the time I am done with you, you will wish you were never born!"

"GGGAAAAAAHHHH, Thaaattt iss sssoooo olllld!"  Roshi gasped as he clenched his arms close to his chest and struggled against the ki.

"Go ahead and fight it.  It will only get tighter.  You can't win. You might as well just give up."

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH  yooooouuu wwwwiiillll nnnot winn thhhhiiiiissssss waayyyy!"  Roshi grunted though clenched teeth.

Roshi continued to struggle against the black bands of ki.  Brilliant rays of yellow ki shot through the gaps, but the bands of black continued to grow ever tighter.

"EEEEEEIIIAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"  Roshi broke the hold on him with an explosive wave of ki.  The black bands of ki dissipated on the leading edge of the yellow ki shockwave, which emanated from Roshi.

"NO!! That's impossible.  No one can break my constricting attack!"  Snow bellowed in rage as she threw several massive ki blasts towards Roshi.

Roshi dodged them and launched a dozen or so more blue-white orbs of ki out past Snow.

"You are not going to mock me again you stupid MONKEY!"  Snow screamed before throwing the same black-red beam of ki at him again.

"KAMEHAMEHA!!!"  Roshi shouted as he shot a blast back towards Snow.  The kamehameha struck and deflected Snow's attack before continuing on to slam into her.  The Kamehameha drove her back and gave Roshi a few more moments to recover.

Then Snow shot upwards and rain ki blasts down on the planet almost randomly.  'If I stay hidden within these clouds she will destroy the Earth to get to me.  If I close and fight where she can see me, she has the advantage.  Damned if I do, damned if I don't.'  Roshi realized.

He tossed several more blue-white orbs over his back and then shot after her.

"MASENKO!!!"  He screamed the moment he burst from the clouds, sending a large yellow comet streaking towards Snow.

Not expecting him to come from that direction, Snow didn't react in time and was struck in the right shoulder by the blast.  She was thrown to the side and barely had time to block the follow up kick.

The two exchanged blows for a few minutes, both giving and receiving a fair number of blows.  In the end, Snow dove into the clouds below them.

'She is getting tired.  Her ki is dropping away!'  Roshi realized as he dove to follow her.  "Which means it is time for my surprise."

Slowly small bolts of electricity built around Roshi as he dove through the storm tossed clouds.  Soon lightning crackled and arced all around him.  He spread his arms and summoned back the ki balls he had left to float around in the storm.  They returned and began to circle around him at great speed energy shooting and crackling between them.

The storm began to die down as Roshi gathered in all the static current it had built up in the past hour of fighting and condensed it between his hands.  Lightning bolts shot through the sky only to add energy to his attack.

Snow heard him and charged in to attack.  Roshi waited until she could see what she was flying blindly towards before he threw his massive blue ball of electric energy at her.

ZZZZAAAATTTTT!!  The energy arced between him and her.  Had she had hair it would have stood on end for the rest of her days, but as it was the only remarkable result was a shuddering convulsion that stopped her dead in the air as the energy played over her.

"I can play dirty to bitch." Roshi said as he swept his hands back and started to charge a Kamehameha.

The Kamehameha slammed into the center of her chest and knocked her up and out of the clouds.

He shot after her and reached her just as she was starting to regain control over herself.  He slammed into her feet first and drove her even higher into the air.

"You miserable miscreant freak of a monkey.  You've hurt me.  No one has ever hurt me before!"  Snow screamed, "For that I am going to kill you.  I'm going to destroy this miserable little shit hole of a planet and everything on it!"  She shouted as she threw up her hands and started to charge a huge crackling red energy ball.

"When are you idiots going to learn that if you warn us of what you are going to do it doesn't work?"  Roshi asked as he calmly go between her and the planet.

* * *

"Oh shit! Oh Shit OH SHIT!"  Teddy said to no one in particular but everyone in the room.  Snow's power level had dropped to 24 million, but now it was skyrocketing as she charged what looked to be an enormous ki blast.

**_Changeling, Forth stage, Current = 33,560,000+.  
Roshi, Super Saiyan, Current = 31,000,000, Max Super Saiyan = 31,000,000, Max Normal = Unknown._**

The computer had informed her that Roshi had focused himself and that was how he had found the extra energy, but that wasn't going to matter much if the Changeling kept increasing in power.

* * *

Roshi swallowed apprehensively as Snow's body bulged.  Her already ripped and bulky looking muscles grew even larger and she became beefier looking.  Her ki also shot up.

'This may not be good.' He thought to himself.  "Ka...Me...Ha...Me..."

"YEAAAAAA!!!"  Snow threw the huge ki ball downward and accelerated its descent by adding to it from the rear with a huge beam of ki.

"HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"  He released his kamehameha and sent it up to meet the oncoming ball of death.

The Kamehameha slammed into the huge red ball of ki and slowed it for a few moments.  Then it overwhelmed Roshi's beam and started forcing it's way back down again.

"AAAAHHHHHHH" Roshi braced himself in the air and pushed more energy into the Kamehameha, but to no avail.

The red ball of ki swept the blue energy wave backwards and soon slammed into Roshi's hands.  Roshi grimaced in the backwash of his own energy but kept pushing.

He crashed into the ground and there he braced himself and held off the ki ball for several seconds.  Then the ground beneath his feet melted under the heat and pressure of the onslaught and he began to sink into the molten ground.

As he sank the ground around him became liquid and then plasma.  It burned at him only adding to his struggle.  Worse, there was no air to breathe.

'I can't give up!  I have to stop this! I have to stop this!  I have to stop this!' He thought as he was pushed deeper and deeper into the earth.

* * *

"LET GO OF ME YOU BASTARDS!"  Ichigo screamed as she strained against Boxers, Tee, and Nail.  "This isn't the time to be standing around!"

"Duh!"  Tee replied, "That's why Goshu left to go help.  He's in better shape than any of the rest of us anyway!"

"GAAH" Ichigo grunted as she wrenched her arm around throwing Tee and Nail into the stony outcropping they had hidden from the rain under.

"For a bunch of morons that preached about teamwork you idiots sure have a funny way of working together!"  She yelled back at the two of them before turning to look directly at Boxers, who still held her left arm.  "If you know what's best for you, you will let go of my arm now."

Boxers let go and backed up several steps holding his hands up in submission.  

Ichigo didn't even reply as she shot into the air.

"Ah dang it, we can't let her have all the fun!  I'm going after her."  Tee said before taking to the air and following.

Boxers and Nail looked at each other and then jumped into the air to follow.

When they got to Snow, they found both Goshu and Ichigo beating on her with everything they had.  

"Damn you MONKEYS!  Why can't you just die like everything else you stupid pests!"  Snow ranted as she floated firmly locked in position as immovable as a planet against their assaults.

Ichigo didn't know what to do.  Nothing seemed to work.  It was like they were fleas trying to stop a bear.  She could feel Roshi struggling.  His ki was starting to drop. He was slipping.  'What can I do?'

* * *

Roshi's weakened right knee popped and gave out.  He fell to his side and almost let the giant red ki ball slide off of his Kamehameha.  'Shit!  I can't keep this up much longer.  I need air!'  He thought as he was pushed even lower.

'NO! I'm not giving up.  Everyone needs me, I am not giving up!'  Roshi thought of all the people he was fighting for.  For, his family, and his friends.  For Ichigo, and Mariah, and Kit, and Carge, and Niko, and... The list was endless.  Then he realized he was fighting for another person as well.  He was fighting for himself.  He needed to do this for himself.  'I always feared what would happen if I let loose.  Now I have no choice.'

Roshi calmed his racing heart and reached into himself.  Meditating on those things that made him who he was, he focused his resolve.

* * *

Ichigo was about to throw herself into Snow's massive beam when Goshu spoke up and stopped her.

"Everyone come over here.  If we all throw a Kamehameha at the same time right at her hands, we might interrupt the beam long enough for Roshi to throw that ki ball off of himself!"

"Good idea!" Boxers chirped before he flew over to float next to Goshu.

Ichigo had to admit it was a good idea and she joined them.  Soon Nail and Tee were beside them as well.

"Ok on three." Goshu said, "Ka...me...Ha...me...HAAAA!"  All of them shouted in tandem.

Five Kamehamehas shot out and swirled around joining into one massive beam moments before it slammed into Snow's hands.

* * *

"GGGGEEEEEAAAAHHHH" Roshi forced himself to stand back up.  He pushed against the blast and slowly began to work it back up towards the sky.

* * *

The conjoined Kamehameha worked.  It slammed into Snow and knocked her to the side.  She fell off of her own beam and then completely stopped it.  "You Monkeys have interfered for the last time!"  She screamed at them.

* * *

Suddenly there was nothing pushing against the ki ball and with Roshi putting his entire might behind his Kamehameha, it quickly pushed it out of the earth and into the sky.  Roshi sensed it would miss Snow, so he moved his Kamehameha and put some spin on her massive ki ball.  It swerved to the side and slammed into her only moments after she realized the threat.

The ki blasts she had been starting to charge missed entirely as she became pinned against the massive ball of her own ki.

"NOOOOOoooooooo she screamed in pain as she slowly fell into the ki ball she had been unprepared to block.

The ki ball suddenly exploded.  The shockwave shook the air and drove the rain clouds away.  Air rushed into the suddenly vacant pocket of air and the concussive force of the thunderclap flattened the earth for kilometers.

Through it all Roshi kept his Kamehameha streaking for the heavens.  When Snow's ki ball exploded, she became trapped on the top of Roshi's Kamehameha.

He kept firing until he was certain Snow had been fully disintegrated by the force of the beam.  Then, and only then did he stop and lower his hands.  

Already far above the planet shooting ever deeper into space a sparkling plume of ash spread out.  It caught the sunlight and sparkled.  The glittering swirling mass would have looked to any observer to be something resembling early morning snowflakes catching the first rays of the sun while they were blown about in the wind.

* * *

Roshi's hands flopped to his sides and he tossed his head back.  He sighed an exhausted sigh of relief and allowed himself to fall back towards the ground as he relaxed.

By the time he landed on the wind blown ground, his hair was black once again.

Soon everyone had gathered around where he lay on his back resting with arms behind his head.  He looked at them and said, "would it be ok if I said I never want to do that ever again?"

"WHAT!! You jerk you said you would help me!"  Ichigo screamed before kicking him in the ribs and stalking off.

"Gah ouch! Dang it all!  I think she just broke more of my bones than Snow did."  Roshi coughed as Dende quickly kneeled to heal him.

"Dude you really need to remember she takes everything you say literally!"  Tee chided from the side.

"So says the one who continuously comes within millimeters of loosing his boys every time he makes the wrong kind of joke around her."  Roshi replied to a good amount of laughter.

Ichigo stalked back and glared at them all.  "I don't see anything funny about this.  I'm leaving, I want a ship NOW!"

Roshi stood up and shook his head at her.  "Ichigo I said I didn't want to fight a Changeling again.  No sane person would want to.  Not that I wouldn't.  As far as I know we are still going to Saiya to get rid of the rest of those nasty lizards.  Right guys?"

Tee and Boxers feigned innocence and looked off to the sides while Goshu just shook his head.

"Yes, we will, and soon, but first there are a lot of people that still need our help tonight.  The earthquakes and storms this fight caused will ravage the planet alone.  And those solders Snow brought with her probably didn't help anything.  I'm sorry Roshi, but this is no time to celebrate.  We have work to do."

* * *

10am Thursday

Roshi had worked through the night rescuing people and clearing debris from the streets of West Capitol and then Satan City.  He had stopped only twice to eat and was now exhausted beyond anything he had ever felt in his life.

But his heart was finally beating at a more normal rate.

He had found Kit at 2 in the morning frantically searching through the rubble of the Beachside Mall.  Mariah hadn't made it home during the night.  The entire region around the mall had been decimated.  Bodies and debris laid everywhere.

He had searched for hours looking for signs that Mariah had lived through the attack.  

When he found her purse several blocks into the city from where the worst devastation had been he had relaxed some.  That was, until he saw the overturned cars and horridly damaged buildings.  In the haystack that was downtown Satan City he was looking for a very small needle.

Then they found out Slip had been found in a crater in the middle of town and rushed to the Hurcule Satan Memorial Hospital for treatment.

So he had gone to see how badly hurt she was.

Mariah had been admitted for a crushed ankle and several other scrapes and bruises.

The hospital was horridly beyond its capacity and since Mariah was in no danger of dying they had not kept track of exactly where she was.  The nurses and doctors instead were worried about saving the critical patients.

So Roshi hunted the halls stepping over people and walking around the injured.  The sight of all the people in such miserable conditions filled him with an inner rage he fought to control.  'There is so much to do here, but if we are to save anyone on Saiya we need to go there soon.  Very very soon.'

Roshi stepped into a room and saw Mariah sitting in a chair next to a young man who had one of his arms and his head wrapped in bandages.

"Mariah!  Thank Kami you're alive!"  Roshi said as he walked into the room.

Mariah jerked her head up and looked at him.  Her mouth dropped open and relief flooded her face.  The relief was quickly followed by anger.

"Go away Roshi.  I don't want to talk to you right now."

Roshi stopped dead.  "Mariah are you ok?"

Mariah angrily grabbed her crutches and hobbled over to him.  "You're not even hurt!  You don't have a scratch on you!"

Roshi was at a loss for words.  "I... I can explain."

"Where were you last night?  I was so worried about you, but you never showed up.  You never showed up all night and now when you do you're not even hurt!"

"Mariah please calm down, I can explain."

"Calm down?  You want me to calm down?  The world blew up last night and you want me to calm down?  You asked if I was ok do I look ok?  I'm blind without my glasses, I can't see a thing, but I can hear!  Can you hear all the people in this place?  Could you hear all the buildings falling down last night?  Could you?  WHERE were you!?!"

Roshi looked around the room to see almost everyone in the room, which was packed watching them.  He leaned closer to Mariah and whispered.  "I was fighting the Changeling that brought all this terror."

"You were fighting?  You were fighting?  The news says the military was completely wiped out, but you were fighting?  You don't have a single scratch on you and you claim you were fighting?"

Roshi quickly looked around the room again and then looked at Mariah.  "Could you keep your voice down?  Or could we talk about this later in private?"

"What? So you can keep your stupid secrets?  You lied to me Roshi.  I thought you loved me but you couldn't even tell me who you really are.  I don't care where you were or what you were doing last night but I do care that you lied to me.  Do you have any clue how much that hurts to know that your best friend the person you thought you were in love with can't even trust you with a stupid pointless secret?"

Mariah didn't give him time to reply.  "I thought you loved me.  I thought I loved you, but I never knew you.  I still don't know you.  But you can keep you stupid secrets.  You can keep you damn lies!" Roshi had never heard Mariah swear before.  "You can go to hell for all I care!  Look around.  Look at what your stupid secrets did.  You KNEW something was coming and you didn't warn people.  You didn't do anything because that would mean telling them the truth and you've hidden behind your lies for so long you don't even know what the truth is anymore!  Look around you!  Look at John!"  She said pointing to the young man with his head wrapped.  "He go that way by saving my life last night, which is ten times whatever you did.  So to answer your question, no I'm not ok!  I'm about as far from ok as I can get.  Now go away.  I don't want to talk to you anymore.  I don't want to hear anymore of your lies!"  She yelled before hitting him in the chest.

He felt a bone in her hand pop and she quickly reached up to cradle her hand while tears seeped through her eyes.  "Just go away.  I don't want you here right now."

Roshi stood there dumbstruck.  He didn't know what to do.  He had nothing he could say to her.  Nothing.  For the second time in a day it felt like his soul was being ripped apart.  Never in his life had he been so very very alone.

* * * 

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The Smooster


	44. A Woman's Heart

This chapter is for anyone who has a heart and has had it broken.

A Woman's Heart

Thursday, June 26, 10:10 am

"Just go away. I don't want you here right now."  Mariah said with a forceful sigh.

Roshi stood there dumbstruck. He didn't know what to do. He had nothing he could say to her. Nothing. For the second time in a day it felt like his soul was being ripped apart. Never in his life had he been so very very alone.

Roshi took a step towards her, "Mariah if you would just let me explain."

"No, just leave.  I don't want an explanation.  It is too late for that now." Mariah said with a note of finality to it.

Roshi felt his anger flare for a moment, but he suppressed it, or at least he tried to suppress it and clenched his fists. "Damn it!" he cursed under his breath.  

Mariah backed up and practically fell into her chair.  Roshi took a deep breath and tried to relax.  He realized he had just shattered several of the floor tiles without even doing anything.  He looked into Mariah's eyes and his heart just about stopped.

Fear.  Roshi hated the look of fear.  He didn't like seeing it on people he disliked.  Seeing it on Mariah's face almost stopped his heart.

"I'm so sorry."  He said softly.  He turned around and paced for a moment.  "I'm sorry you feel that way.  I always thought there would always be time to tell you everything when you were ready.  I guess I was wrong.  I never meant to hurt you."  He said facing away from her.  He then turned and continued.  "Since you don't want another lie I need to tell you something important.  Will you listen?"

"Yes."  Mariah said, her face softening.

Roshi glanced around the room one more time just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Last night wasn't the end of this.  The people that attacked Earth are holding Saiya hostage.  Several others and myself are leaving, probably tonight to go there in hopes of saving the people of Saiya.  I can't lie, after what happened last night I don't expect to come back.  I'm sorry I hurt you, but I have to go now.  I'm sorry."  He said again before turning to rush out the door.

"WAIT!"  Mariah yelled after him.  "Roshi come back.  I'm sorry I over-reacted!  Last night was just so... Oh, Roshi you have no idea how bad it felt when you didn't come and you didn't come.  And then John came and he saved me.  And then he got hurt and now...  Oh Roshi don't leave me alone again.  I don't think I can bare it."

* * *

Mariah was frightened.  'I just lost my best friend,' she realized.  She couldn't really see his face.  Her glasses were at home and the doctors had made her take her contacts out.  She couldn't see him clearly so she had no idea how he was reacting.  She could have sworn his hair had flashed and glowed golden for a second, but she wasn't sure.  All she knew was he was different.  He wasn't the same happy-go-lucky cheerful Roshi she had always known.  He had changed, and now he was leaving her.

Mariah felt like everything she knew about life had just fallen down.  It was rather surreal, as though gravity had just stopped working.  Or something equal to that in impossibility had happened.  Roshi was always there for her.  But last night he hadn't been and that betrayal of belief hurt.  And now he was just going to leave... and he didn't say goodbye... and that hurt.

'Please comeback.  Please make everything better again.  Please make this bad dream go away.' Mariah thought to herself.

And then to her resounding relief, Roshi came back in and hugged her.  Mariah sighed contently.  "You can.  I know you can.  You may not want to, but you can." He said softly into her ear.

She wanted to stay there in his arms forever.  She didn't know why, but she always felt safer when wrapped in Roshi's strong arms.  He was like the rock of Gibraltar, ever steadfast.  Then her hand dropped from Roshi's back and brushed against the bed John was in.  All the emotions and fears from last night came flooding back and she realized that Roshi wasn't steadfast.  He hadn't been there for her.  She knew that he hadn't abandoned her.  She knew he had to have been doing something vitally important.  But it still felt like betrayal.

"No... I can't" Mariah said while pushing Roshi away from her.  "Look at John.  He might never wake up again and all he did was save me.  I don't know if I can live with that.  I... I feel like it's my fault he's hurt!"

Roshi took a step away from her and then walked up near John's head.  "What's wrong with him?"  He asked quietly.

Mariah looked down at her feet and wanted to cry.  "The Dr. said that he had a fractured skull and a severe concussion."  She stopped to sniffle a bit.  "If he doesn't wake up in the next few hours they said he would probably have really bad brain damage."  She carefully sat back down as to not put more pressure on her ankle, and then hugged herself.

Roshi glanced around the room again and even without her glasses she could see his shoulders slump.  'Why does he keep looking around the room?' Mariah thought to herself as she tried to see what was so interesting.  The room was a normal recovery ward.  It had been designed for five beds, which could be separated with curtains.  Now however there were far more than the normal five patients in the room.  

Roshi took a deep breath and then walked over towards the window.  "Why hello there Ima.  You seem to always be lurking in the shadows."

Mariah almost fell over in her chair.  'Ima Gossip is in this room?  Oh no, Roshi's going to kill me.  Now I've really gone and done it!'

Roshi turned around and looked back at Mariah.  She couldn't make out his face, but the way he paused made it seem like he was nervous.  "I will be right back.  I need to get something."

Roshi then turned to talk to Ima.  "Well you wanted the story of your life time?  It looks like you are about to see it."

"Roshi no!"  Mariah heard herself yell as she realized he was opening the window.

Roshi jumped out of the third story window.  Ima actually surprised Mariah by trying to jump up, she was actually acting worried.  But then Roshi floated up past the window and then flew away.

"How on Earth did he do that?  What's going on here?  What did you mean by he knew people were coming to attack Earth?"  Ima started firing off questions left and right as she wheeled her wheel chair over to where Mariah was sitting.

'How could I not realize that Ima Gossip was in this room?' Mariah implored herself.  'Roshi is never going to forgive me for this.  I can't believe I said those things.  Oh!'

Ima finished wheeling herself over to Mariah.  Even without her glasses she could see that Ima had had both of her legs amputated.

At first Mariah took pleasure in the sight of Ima cut down in such a manner.  Then she was horrified at herself for even thinking such a thing.  "What happened to you?  How did you lose your legs?"

Mariah could hear Ima grind her teeth.  "See that is a funny question.  See from what I understand the Capsule Corp released a statement AFTER these aliens landed and attacked us.  From what I was told before you even were brought here, the Royal military was decimated.  Yet here your boyfriend who you say KNEW these aliens were coming comes in here with out a scratch, without a bruise.  I would say I lost my legs because of one of those lies you were just saying he told."

Mariah was taken back by the pure venom that dripped from Ima's words.  'How can she hate so much?'

"Well, do you have anything to say?  Or are you just a little hussy that has to protect her boyfriend and can't think for herself?"

Mariah glared acidly at Ima.  "I'm not a hussy, and Roshi isn't my Boyfriend."

"Oh really!  Then what is he to you?  Just a friend?  I'm not blind little girl.  I can see the way you look at him.  You want him.  If he were a dog you would tie him up an never let him go."

"I... I do like him ok, but it isn't like that!"

"No I guess not, especially with lover boy running around with a girl that doesn't exist.  Don't tell me you aren't jealous."

"Huh?  I don't... Oh you mean what's-err-name?"

"Yes!  Exactly!  You tell me, what is her name?  She doesn't exist.  They claimed she was from some forgotten village and was a student of Master Son.  But she isn't.  I checked into it.  She isn't a student.  No one had ever seen her before a few weeks ago.  And suddenly no one ever sees her unless she is right by your little friend."  Ima snorted.  "You know he's just using you.  Who is she?  You have to know something."

'Who is she?  Oh, she's just a space Princess.  She's just a member of the same alien race that I guess Roshi belongs to.  She's just perfect looking.  She's just everything I'm not.  That's who.'  Mariah thought to herself.

"Look, I don't want to talk about this."  Mariah said defensively.  She turned and faced John.

Ima started laughing.  "Oh you stupid, stupid girl!  Who is this one to you?  Is he just the replacement?"

"Leave him out of this you vile woman!"  Mariah yelled.  It took a lot to make her angry but now that she was she had a temper.  "He has nothing to do with this.  He got hurt saving me last night!  He just happened to be in the right place at the right time and paid for it ok?"

"Oh you mean he was where Roshi wasn't?  He was there and the boy you think you love wasn't?"  Ima laughed with a sneering tone.  "Get it though your head girl, the boy is just using you.  He's just like his family.  All they do is use people.  They use people and we practically worship them.  He doesn't love you.  He probably never did!"

Mariah jumped to her feed and hobbled over to Ima without using her crutches.  "Roshi is my best friend and nothing you can say will ever change that!  He wasn't there for me last night but I am sure he has really good reasons for it!  I don't want and I don't need your sick twisted petty and jealous opinion.  Just because you have never known love, have never had a true friend, and probably from the way you act have never trusted anyone in your life does not mean you can bad mouth me, or Roshi, or John or anyone else!"

"Oh really?"  Ima scoffed, "then why are you so nervous?  Why are you so mad?  You're lying to yourself and you don't even know it!"

"I said shut up!"

A nurse came rushing into the room.  "What is going on in here?" He asked sounding just a fraction of a measure from exhaustion.

"Oh, nothing!  I was just asking this young lady a few questions about the events of this past day and the trauma must have gotten to her."  Ima said in the cheesiest sugar coated voice Mariah had ever heard.

"Oh please!  This woman is interrogating me and being horribly rude to me.  Could you take her to a different room?"  Mariah pleaded.

"Now, now that shouldn't be needed.  I was just asking a few harmless questions.  Nothing to get all excited about.  Please sir don't trouble yourself anymore with this little spat.  It isn't worth the trouble."

"Don't listen to her she's just acting nice so you go away.  This is Ima Gossip.  Have you watched her on the news ever?  If one person exemplifies bitch it is her!"

"Oh now, now, that was just hurtful!  Why would you say a thing like that?"  Ima asked sounding very surprised and indeed hurt by Mariah's words.

Mariah had to admit Ima was very good at playing people to get her way.  The nurse just raised his hands in submission and let his arms drop to his sides.  "Whatever, I don't care, just no more yelling!"  He said before he turned around and left.

"Thank you, sorry to have bothered you!"  Ima called after him before turning to Mariah.  "Nice try, but your outclassed."

Mariah decided not to say anything.  She instead just sat there and ignored Ima, waiting patiently for Roshi to get back.

She couldn't ignore the fact that Roshi had just jumped out of the window and flown off without pause because she had forced him away.  She had forced him into it.  At least she felt she had forced him away.

* * *

Roshi practically dragged Dende through the air as he flew.  'I am never going to be able to explain this.'  Roshi shook his head sadly.  'I can't blame Mariah for her words, but she chose a horrid time to express them.  Gah, why does Ima always have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?'

'No Roshi, don't worry about Ima, she isn't actually the problem.  The real problem is how I have been treating Mariah and what I am going to do about it.  I never meant to hurt her.  I thought by not telling her things I was protecting her.  I guess I was wrong.'

"Looks like we are here."  He said to Dende as he approached the window to the hospital.  He waited for Dende to crawl through the window before he followed.

Mariah was red in the face and looked if anything even angrier than she had been before.  

"Ack!  What is this?  Get away from me!"  Ima squawked when Dende took a step further into the room.  He was still several meters away from where she sat in her chair but she didn't seem to care.

"What is going on here?  How can you fly?  And who's the old freak?"

"I can fly because I am a master martial artist.  Flying is nothing new.  It is called Bukujutsu.  Go look it up in the old records of the Budoukai back in the 22nd and 23rd Budoukais to be specific.  A lot of people can do it.  They just choose not to."

"Oh right, and I suppose you can throw flashy blue energy around like those idiots who fought Cell did."  

Roshi's head dropped in surprise and his jaw bounced off of his chest.  No one had ever really doubted that the people who showed up had just ceased to exist or something when the fight was over.

"Ima, Ima, Ima, you are so blind.  You only see the things you choose to see."  Roshi replied

"Well right now I see a habitual liar trying to get away with it again.  For example, what did your little girlfriend mean when she said you knew those aliens were going to be coming?  I really want to hear this answer.  How are you going to cover for what you and your family allowed to happen last night?  How are you going to make the world see the other way?  How are you going to duck responsibility for the deaths and destruction that your family caused?"

Roshi paused for a moment and clenched his fists.  It was too easy to anger now. It was too easy to hate.  "I'm not going to.  We didn't cause anything last night."

"Then you are calling her a liar?"  Ima turned and glared at Mariah.  "I told you he is just using you."

"I'm not using anyone.  Well except for Dende here, but that isn't important in this.  Mariah isn't right, but she isn't lying either.  You always wanted the story of your life well here it is.  Yes, we knew that Aliens were coming to attack the Earth."

Ima scoffed.  "And yet you did nothing?  You warned no one?  You just let them attack and kill and maim?  That is the most vile thing I have ever heard in my life."

"Well if it isn't the pot calling the kettle black!  Yes, we knew they were coming.  No we did not cause them to attack, nor did we cause the damage that happened last night.  Ask Mariah, we didn't know when they would get to earth, only that they were coming.  Should have we warned people weeks ago only to have caused weeks of fear and hardship?"

Roshi paused to take a breath.  "So you want the truth.  The most you can condemn my family for was not doing enough to stop them."  Roshi turned and walked closer to Mariah.  "Oh and before you make any more comments.  We did stop them.  It wasn't the police, or the military, though they did try valiantly, but it was my family.  I am sorry you lost your legs, but it isn't my fault, and to blame me and my family is not right."

Ima grimaced.  "Fine, I don't know why but I believe you.  Just tell me one thing.  Just one thing."

Roshi knew better than to agree, but he didn't see how he had much choice.  "Ok, what?"

Ima smirked at him.  "Who is the other girl?  Who is the girl with the long black hair that you claimed was a student of your fathers?  I know she isn't.  So the only thing I can come up with is that she is somehow related to these aliens that keep attacking the Earth.  Who is she and what role does she play in all of this?"

Roshi looked at Dende.  Dende just shrugged.  He looked at Mariah.  She stared blankly off into space and didn't even look at him.  "Her name is Ichigo, beyond that it is not my right to disclose information.  However the aliens that attacked the night the moon was destroyed and those that attacked last night came specifically to kill her."

"Did they succeed?"

"No."

* * *

For a few moments the room was silent.  Only the whirring of a heart-lung machine and the beeping of monitors indicated the room was occupied.  Mariah couldn't see, but she knew all the patients who were in the room and conscious had their eyes riveted to Roshi and Ima Gossip.

Mariah didn't know what to think.  Roshi had always been smart.  But this wasn't the Roshi she knew.  The Roshi she knew would have never challenged Ima.  He would have never argued with her.  He would have never done anything like this new bold Roshi that stood before her.

'I don't even know him anymore.' She realized with a start.  She had always known he had secrets.  She had always known he was different.  But she had always thought she had known him.  She thought she had known who he was when everything else was stripped away.  But now, now he was different.  He was bold, he was not afraid.

'It's her.'  Mariah realized.  "You were fighting for her last night weren't you?  That's why you weren't at the dance.  You were protecting her!"

"Oh look, you made your girlfriend cry."  Ima scoffed.  "So were you.  Were you protecting her last night?  This girl that obviously isn't even human?"

Mariah held her head in her hands and sobbed.  She thought she heard Roshi sigh but she couldn't tell.

"Why doesn't it surprise me to hear a racist comment from you?"  Roshi replied taciturnly.  "There are a lot of people that are not human on this planet.  Kit, one of my best friends, is a Vulpine and she has to put up with idiots like you every day.  Your question is insulting."  He spat.

"Doesn't change the fact that it was true."  Ima remarked.  "I told you he was just using you."

Mariah jerked her head up and glared at Ima.  "Shut up!"

"What you can't stand the truth.  What's the truth Roshi?  Why was this, what did you call her?  Ichigo worth sacrificing everyone on this planet for?  Because Oakum's Razor points out if the aliens only wanted her dead, giving her up would have saved a lot of lives.  Who are you to choose one life over thousands?"

"You don't understand."  Roshi replied.  He had walked over by Mariah and was now kneeling by her chair.  "Mariah you have to believe me I never meant for any of this."  He said quietly into her ear.

Mariah sobbed.  "Then what did you mean to happen?  Why did this happen?  I don't know you anymore Roshi.  You're not the same person I know.  You are not the same Roshi I am friends with.  You've changed."

"I would say he had grown rather callous." Ima retorted.  "Since when was one life worth thousands?  What did she do to get you to betray everyone on this planet?"

"I wasn't sacrificing anything.  Ichigo came here for help.  The same people that attacked Earth attacked her world.  They came here to stop her from getting help.  We could have told her to go away.  I suppose like you said we could have even given her to them.  But than we would have been callous."

"Oh you want to claim you are doing something heroic.  Death is still death.  You let this happen.  You let these people get hurt.  You caused me to loose my legs.  You maliciously disregarded the lives of everyone on this planet for one girl from some already dominated people on some far off world?  Death is still death.  Pain is still pain.  You caused this tragedy and I am going to do my most to make sure you pay for your crimes."

Roshi sighed.  "Be careful with the hatred you plan on spreading.  Hatred may have a small seed, but once planted it has deep roots.  You may not be able to stop it from growing beyond your control."

"You are pathetic.  You warn me about the dangers of hate, after what you did I hope the people do hate you.  You and your family willingly condemned thousands to die and tens of thousands to get hurt for people they don't even know.  You willingly chose to let people die.  That young man is evil incarnate."

Mariah looked up.  "No it isn't."  She said softly.

"Oh please, do not tell me that you are going to support him in this.  He's just using you."

Mariah stood up and hobbled over to Ima's wheelchair.  "You don't know anything about Roshi.  I was wrong to be mad at him earlier.  I blamed him for what happened last night for the same reasons you are villainating him now.  You say they could have just given what's her name to the aliens that attacked us last night.  They would have gone away and nothing would have happened on earth.  Would that have been a good thing?"

"YES! I cannot believe you are so dense.  Trade one life for thousands, the math isn't that complex!"

"So you would condemn an entire planet, an entire race to their deaths just because it would be mathematically simpler for you?" Mariah practically gasped.  

"We were not part of this.  We never should have been part of this.  In their desires to be heroes Roshi's family put innocent people at risk.  If that girl wanted help she should have gone to the King.  Instead, his family makes up a story to cover for her.  The only reason they would have to lie is obvious.  They don't want everyone to figure out just how badly the Capsule Corporation has been using us all these years.  I'm telling you, they were protecting their own interests, nothing more." Ima replied viciously.

Mariah was about to say more when Roshi placed his hand on her shoulder.  "It isn't worth fighting with her.  She will believe what she will believe."

Ima snorted, "Who's the green freak?"

Roshi turned to Dende, "I am sorry you had to watch that, but I need to ask you a favor.  I know that this is breaking about a million rules and what not, but I need your help."  Roshi sighed and then continued on.  "This is Earth's Kami.  His name is Dende."

Ima rolled her eyes.  "You are pathetic.  Not only are you full of self-aggrandizing crap, but you are delusional as well.  The stories about Kami are bedtime stories meant to make children be good.  There is no such thing."

Dende laughed.  "You poor lost soul.  I am quite real.  What I am doing standing before you now Roshi has yet to tell me, but I am quite real."

Roshi looked over at Mariah and John.  "I... I need you to, if you have the strength, to heal people.  I know it is a lot to ask, but if you would just walk through this hospital it would mean so much."

Dende sighed and placed his hands on Roshi's shoulders.  "Roshi, you know I am not supposed to interfere with the way life progresses on this planet."

"Dende I know, but look at her."  He said pointing at Ima.  "The people need something to believe in.  If you were to heal just a few of them before going back to the Sanctuary it would mean so much.

"What is this bull?  And stay away from me.  I don't need you practicing voodoo arts or some other witchcraft fake healing on me." Ima stated.

"Ignore her, she knows not what she says."  Roshi commented.

Mariah couldn't see that well but she could tell that Dende was fidgeting.  This was obviously a hard question for him.

"Dende, please, don't do it for me, do it for them."  Roshi pleaded.

"I will do as you ask.  At least as long as I am able."  Dende finally answered.

"Thank you."

Roshi then gently grabbed Mariah's hand.  Just holding hands with him made her heart flutter a bit.  "Can I talk to you in a more private place?"

"I ah, I guess," she stammered.  

Much to her surprise Roshi lead her into the little hospital bathroom.

"I know, I know, this isn't the greatest place to talk, but at least Ima can't hear us."  Roshi said before he grabbed something from one of his pockets.  "I stopped by your house on the way to get Dende.  Your mother was worried sick about you, but she is a lot calmer now.  Anyway, I picked up your glasses."

Mariah could have just melted.  This was the Roshi she knew.  He was so thoughtful and willing to go out of his way for people.  "Roshi, you, you didn't have to do that, but thank you!"  She said as she put her glasses on directly before she practically leapt into him to hug him. 

"So you're not mad at me anymore?"  Roshi asked.  He sounded worried.

"Oh, Roshi I... I, this is complex.  I'm not mad at you.  I never really was.  I was mad at fate I guess."

Roshi rolled his eyes.  "Blame Kit then.  She's the one who is always talking about fate."  He said with his goofy little grin.

"Roshi, I'm serious.  This isn't funny.  I did mean those things I said.  You show over and over and over again what a great kind wonderful guy you are, but I don't know you.  You've never let me in.  And it hurts.  You just told Ima Gossip more about what's going on then you told me!  And I thought I was one of your closest friends."

Roshi's face fell.  "Mariah you are.  You are one of my best friends."

"But obviously nothing more."  It was a statement not a question and while Mariah felt the tears welling in her eyes she knew it was true the moment she said it.

"Roshi, I'm not mad at you, but I can't forgive you either.  You have no idea how bad it hurts to realize you don't trust me, that you never did trust me.  You have no idea what it felt like to stand out there and watch you argue with Ima and realize that that was not the same Roshi I thought I loved."

"Mariah, I, I never meant to hurt you.  I thought I was protecting you.  I'm so sorry."

"I know, I know you are and that you didn't, but it still hurts.  I don't know you anymore, and I don't think I ever did to be honest.  I know what kind of a person you are, but not who you are."

'I need the kind of person you are Roshi, can't you see that.  I want to be your friend.  Why can't you trust me?  Why didn't you ever let me see who you are?'  Mariah thought as tears rolled down her cheeks.

"So where do we go from here?  I can't change the past.  I wish I could, but I can't"  Roshi asked her in almost a whisper.

"I don't know.  I need time to think I think.  All this happened so fast and... I just need time to think things over.  Besides, didn't you say you were leaving tonight anyway?"  Mariah said.

Roshi suddenly slammed his fist into a towel hanger.  The metal bent and fell off the wall.  Mariah practically fell down backward in fright.  "Damn it!"  Roshi yelled.  "I don't want to leave it like this.  I don't want to leave you confused."

"But you have to.  You have to save those people.  It's who you are.  I realized that just now.  You always have you always will go out of your way to make people happy.  You care for people.  That's why you helped what's her name..."

"Her name is Ichigo."  Roshi deadpanned.

"What ever!  It doesn't matter what her name is!"  Mariah yelled back.  "You have to go and you have to save her people so she can go back to them and we can go back to being high school kids again.  And I need to think things over.  I'm sorry Roshi, but I can't talk to you more now.  I have to leave!"  Mariah said as she pushed her way past him and ran out the door of the mini-bathroom.  

She barely left the main hospital room when John caught her.  "Hey Mariah wait!  What's going on?  I don't remember much about last night but then I woke up with this green guy looking at me and I heard you fighting with someone in the bathroom.  Are you ok?"

Mariah looked past John to see Roshi leave the Hospital room.  Roshi looked at her once and then looked down at his feet.  As he slowly turned and walked away from her Mariah couldn't help but think she would never see him again.

"No John, I'm not ok.  I just lost my best friend.  I really don't want to talk about it."  She said, as she turned away and hobbled down the hallway.

* * *

Roshi shook his head and clenched his fists as he walked out of the Hercule Satan Memorial Hospital.  "Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

'I can't believe I was so stupid.  I need to remember to engage my brain before my mouth!  I just broke her heart and I didn't do anything to stop it.  I have to be the worlds largest idiot!'  

The area around the hospital was surprisingly undamaged in comparison to the rest of Satan City.  Roshi walked past a series of tents the police and rescue units had set up to help those who did not have major injuries.  Behind that there was a blood bank that had quickly set up.  People were walking about near there holding signs and asking for people to give blood.

Roshi tried to avoid them but they caught him trying to sneak down a back alley.  "Young man, would you help save lives today?  Would you give blood?"

'Needles, I hate needles.' Roshi thought to himself, as he got queasy.  

Not only that but Roshi knew for a fact his blood type would probably cause some problems with the blood bank.  Roshi had a few Saiyan antibodies that would probably not be a good thing to give to an injured or dying person.

"Um... ah... See, ah I would but... ah... every time I've ever given blood, I've ah... passed out.  I can't stand needles."

The nurse looked like she wanted to give him a hug.  "Oh you poor thing.  I understand, but this might save someone's life."

Roshi blinked.  He had to admire the woman for her desire to help people, but he really hated how some aid organizations used guilt to get people to help them.  True charity should not have to be coerced, it should be freely given.

"Please, I know that fact, but I can't.  I just can't."  Roshi said before turning away from her and jogging quite swiftly down the alley and out of her line of sight.

'And I run away again.'  Roshi thought to himself as he kicked a trashcan down the alley.  The aluminum can collapsed from the impact and then flattened itself into a brick wall several blocks down.

'I'm tired, I need to go home and sleep. I can't help more here.'

* * *

Roshi didn't make it home.  As he flew over a section of the city that had sustained extensive damage, he saw rescue workers trying to clear a path for a crane to make it to a collapsed building.  It was obvious by the way the workers were working that there were people trapped within the building.

A commotion of cries and alarm went up as the damaged superstructure of the building settled some more.  This cased the debris to shift almost trapped some of the rescue workers.

'We didn't cause the aliens to attack.  But we didn't do enough to stop them.'  His own words rang in his ears.

Roshi landed and walked up to the person whom was in charge.  The construction foreman saw him approaching and put down the blue prints they were using to figure out a way to get at the people trapped inside without causing the building to collapse more.  She walked over towards him.  "Young man you are going to have to leave.  It's not safe for you to be here."

Roshi glanced over his back down the street to where the crane was blocked by not only craters in the road, but overturned cars and pieces of buildings.  "Looks like you need help, I'm not going anywhere."

The contractor was now joined by a police officer.  "Excuse me but you have to leave, this area is off limits to civilians."  The burly man said as he walked up.

"Ma'am, Sir, I would like to introduce myself..." Roshi started, but he didn't get to finish.

"I know who you are, you are that Son kid that caused all the problems at the mall two weeks ago.  Now are you going to leave peacefully or not?" The officer said quite threateningly.

"Neither, I am going to help you save lives, if you'll let me that is."  Roshi said as he calmly walked over and picked up an overturned garbage truck and easily set it back onto its wheels.  "When you pick your jaws back up off the ground you can tell me what you want moved and I will move it."

"How, how, how did you do that?!" The cop asked dumbfoundedly before he passed out.

The contractor just looked at him in shock and then pointed to a large chunk of rubble.  "You can start by moving that."

* * *

2:30pm

Roshi finally made it home.  He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep.  He had been up for more than 38 hrs.  He had not eaten enough, and not only had he trained, fought and killed Snow, but also spent most of the night being helping people in ways that didn't seem spectacular, only to finish the last few hours off moving literally tones of debris.  His mind was spent, and his body was not far behind.

Roshi unceremoniously collapsed into his bed.  "What a fucking wonderful day.  Mariah is never going to...  ZZzzzz."

Roshi had only been asleep for a few moments when several sharp knocks sounded off of his balcony door.

"Go away I too tired ta talk now."  Roshi slurred from his bed.

Ichigo opened the door and walked into his room.  "Roshi we need to talk."

Roshi was fast asleep again.

Ichigo walked over to his bed and poked him.  "Hey! I was talking to you!"

Roshi rolled over, but kept sleeping.

Ichigo stood up looked around his room.  "Stupid jerk!"  She said to the air before leaving.  If he wasn't cognoscente enough to wake up and talk to her she didn't want to tell him what she was thinking.  He would never remember the conversation.

* * *

5:30 pm

Kit landed her jetcopter next to the other jetcopters that had descended like buzzards on the Son estate.

'Roshi can't do anything normal.'

Kit had to walk through Son Beth's garden to get to the house.  She cringed at the sight of how badly trampled some of Roshi's mother's prize flowers were.  'Beth is going to kill people when she sees this.'  There was even one jetcopter parked on top of Beth's roses.  'Hmmm BZTV news, that station is going to be very sorry.'

Kit walked through the hedge archway that marked the boarder of Beth's garden and stopped dead on her feet.  'There's no way I'm getting through that!'

There were literally hundreds of reporters, protestors, and other people camped out on the front lawn shouting at the house hoping to get a few questions answered.

Kit saw them haggling a grounds keeper and she knew she needed to make herself scarce.  If she never had another interview session with the local news, she would still have had too many in her life.

So she slipped back around a small bulwark that ran next to a fountain and patio and then scooted over to the back door of the garage.  The door was locked, but a security camera must have seen her approaching because directly after she tried the door, it clicked and opened.  "Come on in Kit."  Roshi's mother said through a hidden speaker.

The large garage was not connected to the main house, at least not above ground.  Which was why no reporters had surrounded it.  Kit quickly walked through the tunnel and into the basement of the Son Mansion.  There in the large dance hall she found a good number of Roshi's family.

"Hello Kit, nice to see you made it through the night in one piece."  Son Beth said as she walked up.  "Why are you here?"

"I need to talk to Roshi."

"Get in line."  One of Roshi's uncles said.  Kit was fairly sure it was Gotan.  "That punk has a lot of explaining to do so why don't you just go back home."

Kit ignored the man and turned to Roshi's mother.  "Where is Roshi?"

"He locked himself in the guest room over there."  She said pointing.  "He did so much and he needed his sleep so when the reporters started showing up and he couldn't sleep in his room he came down here."

"Why didn't your security system keep the reporters out?  I thought the no fly zone thing locked aircraft that didn't have permission out."

Beth rolled her eyes.  "Well normally it would, but with all the power stations knocked out all over the world we thought it best to use the power where it was actually needed.

"Oh," Kit looked around.  "Is Slip or any of them around here?"

"No, Slip is still recovering at home.  Her room got destroyed last night so she is rather depressed.  Tee and Boxers are helping get the rescue ship loaded at the Capsule Corp.  That Ichigo girl is over in Pan's house.  So, sorry, no one your age around at the moment."  Beth gave her a tight-lipped smile.  "So what do you want to talk to Roshi about?"

Kit knew she could trust Beth, but she wanted to talk to Roshi first.  "I would really rather keep that private for a while if you don't mind."

Beth grimaced slightly, but shook her head yes.  "Well if you want to just sit down and wait I guess that is ok."

Kit went over to a couch and sat down.  There were quite a few people she did not recognize in the room.  She was fairly sure that the one was Gotan.  Then there was his wife, who was talking to a woman that Kit thought might be Raven.

The only other person Kit knew was Max and she was off in the back glaring off into space.  Kit had flown over the remains of Chichi's on the way to Roshi's house.  Max probably wasn't one to talk to at the moment.

Kit sat for a few minutes but then decided to get up and walk around.  She remembered distinctly from various games when she was younger that there was an old tunnel down here that connected the two houses.  Kit walked around past the large grand staircase and an entertainment room with chairs set out and a large TV.  Then she came to the end of the hallway were the Painting of Chichi and Goku hung.  It was a lot easier to move the painting aside to trip the latch on the hidden door than it had been when she was twelve.

The tunnel was small and had quite a few cobwebs hanging about, which meant Roshi had not shown it to Ichigo.  Kit almost turned around to go back to the ballroom.  She hated cobwebs.  They always got stuck in her fur and it causes so many problems.  But in the end she crouched and ambled through the tunnel over to the other house.

Kit carefully opened the door to Gohan's old den and walked past his ancient oak and mahogany desk.  The door to his den creaked as she closed it.  Even though the house was kept in perfect cleanliness it was old and hardly used.

Kit walked up the stairs and through the dining room.  She was just walking into the kitchen when fist shot from around the corner of the door and almost smashed her nose in.  Kit leapt backwards and managed to not fall on her tail but she doubted her heart could beat any faster.

"Oh, it is just you.  What are you doing here and how did you get in here?"  Ichigo asked as she walked around the corner of the door.

'Just me?  You just about killed me!'  Kit took a deep breath.  "Well right now I am trying to slow my heart rate." Kit said while she tried to get her fur to stop standing on end.  "I thought attacking from hiding wasn't honorable."

What had been a rather neutral look on Ichigo's face quickly became a very menacing scowl.  "It is not.  Neither is sneaking around someone's house."

"This isn't your house."

Ichigo scowled even more.  "You know what I mean.  Now why are you here?  I would have thought you would not like being anywhere near bigots like these."

Kit could hear the crowds outside the two houses, so she knew exactly what Ichigo was talking about.  Ima Gossip had done her work quickly.  Footage from when Ichigo had hit Rock as well as the video from the night Banana attacked and home videos showing the various non-humans who had attacked the night before had been compiled.  Using the bi-line "Human lives sacrificed to protect unknown Aliens," She had created an anti-alien uproar among a large portion of the human population of the planet.

Kit swallowed and looked around.  "No, I don't and that's actually why I came here.  My parents wanted to leave yesterday but didn't, now after all the threatening phone calls, my dad took his private ship and went to Namek with my mother.  I told them I had to talk to Roshi about something and would stay out of trouble.  They didn't want me to go, but I grabbed the jetcopter and just came."

Ichigo gave her an odd look.  "You came here against your parents wishes?"

"You don't know me and I didn't come talk to you to have you of all people judging me."

Ichigo smirked.  "Takes courage to do what you just did.  Even if what you did was dishonorable.  I can see why you are one of Roshi's friends.  You have spunk."  Ichigo walked past her and into the dinning room where she sat down on one of the plush chairs.  "Now why are you here."

"I said I wanted to talk to Roshi, but he's sleeping.  Speaking of which you look really tired.  How many hours of sleep did you get in the past few days?"

"I do not know, a few." Ichigo shrugged the question off.  "I do not feel like sleeping.  Roshi did his part.  He saved this world.  I have been told that we are leaving for Saiya in a few hours and I can't help but to wonder if there is any hope left."

Kit didn't know how to reply, so she just sat down across from Ichigo and waited.

Ichigo looked up.  "I have learned so much since I left home.  I was not ready for this, but I have learned so much.  Yet at the same time, I can hold on to so little hope.  I don't know how Roshi does it.  I have only known him for a few months now and he is like no one I have ever known.  Nothing stops him, ever."

"Roshi is one of a kind.  That is for sure.  But what worries you about saving your people."  Kit asked, 'why on Earth is she opening up to me?  I was just coming over here cause I didn't like the way Gotan was glaring at me.'

"I have tried to explain this to Roshi, but he just does not understand.  He is not like any male I have ever met in my life, but he is still what he is."  Ichigo seemed to stare off into space for a moment.  "I turned seventeen while training with everyone in the Room of Spirit and Time.  Seventeen is the age of majority for my people.  If my father is dead when we get to Saiya, I will be Queen.  I know I am not ready to be Queen."

"Whoa there!  Hold up.  Seventeen is the age of majority?  That makes no sense.  Roshi still looked like he was like eight or nine until he was like fourteen!"

Ichigo just shook her head.  "I know, I tried to explain this to him the night he took me to that Charlie's Restaurant.  But I don't think I got through to him. 

Kit realized she wasn't seeing eye to eye with Ichigo so she decided to just move the conversation on.  "Ok, so you are not ready to be Queen.  Is anyone ever ready for responsibility to be thrust on them?"

Ichigo glared at her.  "It is not that at all.  It is just that I have never been good enough.  I have never done anything that met with expectations.  I have never been strong enough, or fast enough, to matter.  Look out that window.  Those people are blaming Roshi and his family for something I caused and I could not even make a difference in that fight.  I was a bystander while Roshi's uncle lost his arm, and his friend was brutally murdered in front of him.  All I could do was watch."  Ichigo got up and started pacing the floor.  "It is the second time Roshi has had to rescue me at the expense of family and friends."

"And now while the people on his own planet need them the most, his family is getting ready to leave and come with me into Kaio only knows how much danger to fight my fight for me.  I need their help.  I need them, but I have already cost them enough.  I do not want to cost them anymore.  I am responsible for saving my people, and failing in that I should die with them.  But I cannot ask Roshi and his friends and family to throw away their lives for me and my people.  I have already cost them too much as it is."

"I don't understand.  Why do you think you have failed already?"

"Because we fought Snow yesterday that's why.  Look at how much damage one ship of her troops did.  Look at how much damage she did.  In my society women rarely have the chance to advance beyond a common warrior, but the Changelings are Reptiles.  Snow was Blizzard's daughter.  She was huge and was probably his strongest general!"

"So... and that would mean?"  

Ichigo threw up her hands and shook her head.  "Gahhh!  It means if Blizzard thought it worth sending her to do such a menial task as kill me then he has got to have more troops on Saiya then we could ever hope to beat.  Blizzard never travels without his wife.  Which means there is another female brute on Saiya.  He himself is far and away stronger than any normal Changeling and he has to be on Saiya.  Snow did that much damage in one night.  Blizzard has been on Saiya for weeks!"

Ichigo collapsed into her chair.  "I went along with Roshi and his plans because I honestly did not expect to survive.  I had to try, but I did not expect I would ever be going back to Saiya.  And now that there are only a few hours left before we do leave I have to stop them from throwing their lives away.  Roshi has too much to live for to throw his life away on my behalf.  The only problem is that Roshi will not talk to me.  He has been avoiding me this entire week."

'Dende no! She sounds just like Mariah!  Well not like Mariah but just like Mariah!'  Had Kit not already been sitting, she would have fallen down.

She was about to say something when Ichigo suddenly jumped up.  "Roshi is awake.  How did you get into this house without anyone seeing you?  We need to use that route to get to the other house."

"What, ah, how do you know he's awake?"

Ichigo tapped her sternum.  "I can feel his ki.  He's moving around."

Roshi had never exactly explained to Kit how one senses ki, but the way Ichigo had just indicated sent odd little chills down her spine.  It was the same way Mariah always said she knew when Roshi was near.  She could just feel him. 'Way way too much like Mariah.'

"Um, there is a tunnel back to the main house.  Here, follow me."

* * *

"What were you thinking you little shit!  The only thing that has been on the news today has been Ima Gossips hate mongering which you gave her the information for, and video of you moving around busses and parts of buildings like they were weightless!  How could you be so carelessly stupid?!?"  Gotan was yelling at Roshi as the two girls walked into the ballroom.

Before anyone could even blink, Roshi was Super Saiyan and had Gotan pinned to a Granite column that was set in the outside wall.  "I know I am supposed to respect my elders but if you ever call me that again there won't be enough of you left to land on an atom!"

"Roshi!"  Beth yelled suddenly.  "What do you think you are doing?  Put him down now!"

Roshi glared into Gotan's eyes and then set the man down.  "You want to know what I was doing?  I was saving lives!  While you sat in your house last night and did nothing thousands of people were hurt or died because of our lies and our unwillingness to do what it took to prevent it.  I don't care what you think about those idiots on the front lawn.  I was doing what mattered.  I was saving lives and if you want to condemn that then I will consider you just as vile and heartless as Snow.  You wouldn't like to experience what I did to Snow."

Gotan grew very red in the face.  "Is that a threat?  You dare to threaten me after what you did?  You could cost us everything.  After all the stuff that damn reporter has said we could loose everything if the people found out the truth right now."

"So, we would still be better off then they would."  Roshi said as he pointed at Kit and Ichigo.  "Kit has no place to truly call home.  She CAN'T hide who or what she is.  And if we don't succeed in freeing Saiya from the Changelings, Ichigo won't have a home or a family left.  We have our ships.  We can always leave the Earth and go to Namek or someplace else.  Where to people like those to go?"

"Who the fuck cares!  They aren't important, they can go wherever it is they have to but I don't thing you understand a thing what your loose lips could have cost us.  Thankfully they haven't figured out that we are not human yet, but with you throwing busses around what else are they supposed to assume?  So would you stop worrying about other people for once and worry about your own family?  Or are you suddenly too good for the rest of us?"

Roshi hit him.

"Oh my Kami! He's bleeding all over the place!" Gotan's wife screamed before she passed out.

"Roshi!"  His mother said before she passed out as well.

Roshi looked down and then wiped the blood off of his gi.  He was back to wearing his traditional Orange and Blue gi again and the red blood stained his pant leg turning it a brownish color after a few minutes.

"I only broke his nose and knocked him out.  He'll be fine.  And no I am not sorry."  Roshi said as his hair turned black again.  He walked over and gently patted his mother on the cheek trying to wake her up.

"So this is how it is going to be?  You're going to bully us into submission?  Raven asked.

Roshi looked up.  "Are you going to tell me to my face that no one else matters?  What he was saying is the heart of the hatred that is going on out there.  In Gohan's time they used Hercules's fame to hide the truth.  Not only for their own protection but so that the average people could live in peace.  Gotan would have us lie to the people of earth for the exact reasons Ima Gossip says we are lying.  If you want to cover for me then fine.  Get any one of my father's human students.  Sure they can't do as much as I could, but all of them can fly, and all of them can lift a bus without problem."

"We don't have to reveal everything about us, but I am sick of having to lie to my friends.  I am sick of playing games.  I am sick of not being able to help people because it would reveal too much.  I am not sorry for letting myself get taped helping the rescue workers.  I saved lives today.  What were you people doing?  Don't condemn me just because you are afraid of reality."

No one said anything.  For several long seconds nothing.  Then in the back, someone started clapping.

Roshi looked up and saw Max clapping.

"He's right.  And that feeling in your stomach that you don't like right now is called guilt.  You know he's right." Maxine said while she continued to clap.

"That doesn't change anything.  This rescue mission is pointless.  We need to salvage what we can of people's opinions on Earth.  After last night we can't afford to let our best people leave now."  Raven said.

Ichigo almost spoke, but Roshi was quicker.  "No, we can't afford not to.  Yes, we need to help the people of the Earth, but we can't just turn our backs on Ichigo and her people.  If we were to abandon the rescue mission now, we would be condoning Snow and her attack.  We would be condoning the aggression and terror of Blizzard.  A line has to be drawn.  We can't afford to condone the murder of an entire planet.  For if we did, we would lose far more than any of us wish to admit."

Roshi walked around the room.  "If I have learned one thing these past months it is that you can't shy away from adversity.  You have to challenge it and beat it or it will clobber you.  If we turned our backs now would you honestly be able to sleep at night.  Knowing you could have saved a planet, but instead chose to let it and its people die because it was easier?  I know I can't" Roshi said as he started walking towards Ichigo and Kit.  "We already had this conversation at the Capsule Corp.  As far as I know the mission is still on.  I am not going to argue with you anymore."

Roshi walked up to Ichigo and Kit.  "Kit you're covered in cobwebs.  What were you doing crawling around in the old tunnels?"

Kit's jaw dropped and she blinked a few times.  

Roshi laughed.  "It doesn't matter.  Just follow me."  He turned to look at Ichigo.  "Why don't we go get your stuff from the other house and bring it back here?  I'm already packed.  We need to leave for the Capsule Corp. in a few minutes."

The two girls followed him back to the other house and they continued to talk as they packed Ichigo's stuff.

Ichigo kept looking at him with a weird expression on her face.  "Ichigo, what's up?"

Ichigo stopped folding the extra gi she had grabbed and looked up at Roshi.  "Ah, well, ah, I just find it hard to accept that you are a Super Saiyan.  It was always a myth and now you did what I thought was impossible.  How does it feel to have so much..."

"Pain?" Roshi finished for her talking over her.

"What do you mean pain?  You have so much power how could that hurt you?"

Roshi sighed and put down the spandex leggings he had grabbed off of Ichigo's stack.  "I don't know.  I don't even understand it really myself.  Just, when Piccolo died like that.  Something snapped.  And it hurt.  I've never hurt so badly in my life.  You may think you want this but you don't.  No one wants this.  You don't want the hate.  You don't want the hollow feeling I have now.  Like I lost something and I don't quite know how to find it back."

Ichigo just blinked.  "But the power you have..."

"Is enormous.  And it let me beat Snow and it let me save everyone's lives.  But it hurts.  I feel so alone now.  I feel so angry.  You may want the power, but you don't want this."

Roshi would say no more so they finished encapsulating all of Ichigo's stuff and started back to the main house. 

"So Kit, why are you here?"

"I talked to Mariah at the hospital.  They won't release her until they know she won't have any blood clots and her ankle is setting right."

Roshi stopped walking, "you mean she didn't get healed by Dende?"

Kit shook her head.  "She said you two were having a private conversation when Dende healed the people in the room and then worked his way down the hall.  He was gone by the time you left."

Roshi shook his head.  "Figures, the one person I really wanted to get healed didn't cause I wasn't thinking."

"Yes well she isn't mad, she said that the time will actually give her some time to think about you and her and your friendship."

Roshi's shoulders slouched. "Oh."

"Anyway, the real reason I came is she said you were going to Saiya in an attempt to rescue Ichigo's people.  I want to go with."

Roshi dropped the stuff he was carrying.  Ichigo just looked at Kit like she was totally insane.

"Absolutely not!"  Roshi said.  "I may be willing to risk my life but I won't let you risk yours.  What do you think you can accomplish by coming with?"

Kit took a deep breath.  "You don't understand I have to."

Ichigo stuck her hand over Roshi's mouth to stop him from answering.  "No, you do not understand.  The only non-Saiyans on Saiya right now are Blizzards troops.  You cannot fight.  The moment you are seen by even the weakest of civilians they will kill you thinking you are with Blizzard."

"Then I won't go on the planet.  Please Roshi, I have to go with.  You need people in directing you.  You need people who can fly the ships.  I am certified in astronavigation.  I've flown the ship my dad uses in his work for the Capsule Corp.  I have to come with."

Roshi just shook his head.  "Why, tell me why.  Then I might think about it."

"What do you remember about the race riots that happened in West City when you were five?"

"Just that a bunch of jealous idiots thought the Vulpines that were living in West City were being overpaid and treated better then everyone else.  It ended when some of them attacked a school and a girl was... shot.  Oh my Dende!  You used to live in West City!  Your family left after..."

"After Meiko died."

Ichigo didn't know what they were talking about but it was obvious she wasn't included any longer so she stayed out of it.

"When those men burst into the room I ran and hid.  Meiko followed me, but then her shoe fell off.  She went back to get it.  I didn't even notice she wasn't following me anymore... and then... and then they shot her!"

"Kit, that wasn't your fault.  Risking your life on Saiya isn't going to change that."

"I know that.  I know I didn't kill her, but she was still my sister and you will never know what kind of a bond we had.  I don't blame myself for her death.  I blame myself for running away."

"But Kit, that's just crazy!"

"No it is not crazy.  It makes perfect sense.  She knows the danger involved.  If she wants to come let her come."  Ichigo said suddenly.

"Oh no! This is not happening!"

"Please Roshi!  I need to come.  I need to know I can face my fears and help someone else or I will never be able to forgive myself.  Please I have no place to go.  Don't turn me away."

"What do you mean?  What happened to your parents?"  Roshi asked suddenly worried.

"They're on their way to Namek."

"They abandoned you?"

"I ran away."

"You ran away!  Kit this is insane!  No, you can't come.  After what you just told me how do you think your parent feel about this?"

"My parents understand or they wouldn't have let me get this far.  They know it is my choice and they know I have to make it.  Just like they had to come back to Earth when we moved to Satan City even though they didn't want to.  Please Roshi!  Ichigo already told me the risks.  I need to come.  I need to prove to myself that I can."

Roshi looked at Ichigo and she nodded.  

He realized that Ichigo connected with Kit because she to felt she had run away.  "Ok.  But under no circumstance will you land on the planet, Ok?"

Kit hugged him. "Thank you Roshi!"

Roshi lead them to a capsule jet that was hidden in the underground hanger below the garage.

"Well ladies, this is our flight.  Kit what do you have for clothing?"

"Just the clothes on my back."

"Fine, we can get more at the Capsule Corp."

Roshi stashed the rest of the luggage and climbed in the jet.

Max waved at him from the back seat.

"I'm coming with and nothing you do can stop me so don't even try."  She said before he could even say a word.

With all the women in the jet, Roshi didn't even try to argue.  "Well then welcome, I hope you remember what My dad taught you back in the days when you were as martial artist and not a cook."

"Well enough."

Roshi smiled.  "Well at least I know the food will be good on the trip."

* * *

8:04 pm

Roshi watched, as the Earth grew small in his window.  He didn't know if he would ever see it again.  He had to admit that was a very frightening feeling.

He looked at his laptop computer and shook his head.  Finally making up his mind he reached over and tapped the enter key.

Mariah's email opened.

_I hope this gets to you before you leave to save the universe.  I sit here and think about the fact that you are going to save people you don't even know and it warms my heart to think of how great a man you are Roshi.  But at the same time it chills me._

_You never let me be part of that greatness.  I understand why now.  And in a way I thank you for it.  You were protecting me.  I wish you could have told me, but you were protecting me.  Please forgive me Roshi.  But I don't need your protection anymore.  You have bigger and more important things for you to protect.  So as I cry here and type this I have to give you the honesty you deserve.  When you are ready to include me in your greatness.  When you are ready to let me know who you really are.  Come back to me.  _

_Until then, you have great things to accomplish that I am not part of.  I hope to be part of them some day, but until you are ready, it won't work._

_Good-bye,_

_Please come back to me._

_Mariah_

Roshi blinked at the tears that formed, but would not fall.  Several hours later he sat down and wrote in his journal.

_                              A woman's heart is a gift upon man._

_                      Within which burns a fire which flames like the sun._

_                      It sparkles brighter than the most rare of diamonds._

_                     It is more valuable then the most precious of metals._

_                 Yet, a woman's heart is as delicate as a single flake of snow._

_                              It is as fragile as a crystal_

_                                    If you love her,_

_                 Her heart will open on to you the most wonderful of treasures._

_                             And her love for you will grow._

_                                Yet, if you should scorn her,_

_                          The fire will dwindle to embers and die off._

_                           Her love will dry like leaves in the fall._

_                                   Her heart will shatter, _

_                           And blow away like the wind blown leaves._

_                                   A new spring may come_

_                          But her love will never be quite the same._

_                            Her fire will never burn so bright._

_                     Her heart will never sparkle with quite the luster._

_                         It will forever hold that touch of tarnish._

_                                 So if you love a woman,_

_                          Love her as you would the treasure she is,_

_                    And she will be more treasure then you will ever dream of._

_This is for you Mariah.  You are my squandered tarnished treasure.  I can't let this end this way.  I will come back for you._

_* * *_

This is an exceptionally long chapter... Please be kind and tell me what you think of it by reviewing.

  
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The Smooster


	45. Divine Moments of Truth

This chapter is for all who have looked failure in the eye and kept fighting the good fight.

Chapter 45

Divine Moments of Truth

Thursday, June 26 11:00pm

It had been an extremely stressful day.  Too many people had died.  To many more would still die from wounds or lack of treatment.  Billions if not trillions of dollars worth of buildings and infrastructure had been lost.  

With Ima Gossip's reporting and the almost complete media cover-up of what Roshi had had Dende do in the hospital, the people of Earth were taking their pain out on anyone who they knew was an alien, and of course with the "alien lovers" at the Capsule Corp.

Because of this the launch of the Phoenix was delayed until well after dark.  Now in the dark of night the smoke and smog that still clogged the air could help to hide the launch.  The silvery cloaking skin Bulma had borrowed from the aliens she had run into on the way to Namek also helped.  But no launch could ever be taken for granted to be safe.

Several members of the family gathered to wish the crew away.  Finally the ship's engines came to life and it lifted away.

Son Yoshi watched as the ship hopefully destined to save an entire race arc away from him.  Thankfully no leaks had happened.  No one knew who or what was on that ship.  Therefore there was no fanfare, no riots, no boycotts and no problems.  Yet at the same time Yoshi felt hollow.

"Well, they are away."  Teddy said with a sigh of relief.  "Now the hard work starts and it looks like we will have plenty to do."

P.J. snorted, "What, you mean cleaning up the mess Goshu's brat caused?  

"You're lucky Roshi is on that ship and not listening to you gripe or he would probably break your nose too."  Yoshi said with just a bit of a scolding tone.  

Teddy harrumphed, "Gotan is lucky Roshi didn't kill him.  I wasn't there, but I would say he deserved what he got."

P.J. shook his head.  "That doesn't change the fact that he left us a major mess to clean up.  Between what he and that friend of his said in front of Ima Gossip, and him being filmed moving tones of debris around as though it weighed nothing, the people want to know what is going on.  I hate to say it but Ima is very good and she has us in a tight spot, because while we were worried about saving lives she just wanted publicity."

Teddy shook her head sadly.  "I know.  But we can't change what is done.  If we had the Dragonballs we could make them forget.  That would be the best, but I think we need to prepare for the worst."

"Prepare for the worst?  What could possibly be worse then having a Changeling stop by for a visit?"  P.J. said sarcastically.

"Well, we could just do nothing.  There is a possibility that if we do not come clean about anything that Ima might figure out a few things and be able to blow things way out of proportion."

"Fine, we can hold a press conference, but you will handle it.  I don't want to be anywhere near Ima's stench."  P.J. said as he turned to leave.

Yoshi put his hand on Teddy's shoulder.  "It will be ok.  I will help.  Just tell me what to do."

Teddy looked over at him.  "You should have been on that ship headed for Saiya, not worrying about helping me salvage what little trust the people of Earth still have in our family."

Yoshi flinched as phantom pains traveled up his missing arm.  "I know, but like you said, we can't change what has happened.  I am lucky to be alive.  I am more then happy to do what I can to help remind the people of Earth that they as well should be glad to be alive.  We now worry about repairing the damage and moving on.  Yesterday we almost lost the chance to rebuild.  We should be thankful to be given the chance to keep living."

* * *

Friday June 27, 8 am.

Things were not much better in space.  They had docked with Snow's ship, as the plan at the moment required them to use it to try to some what sneak back onto Saiya.  As Snow's ship was much slower than the Phoenix, Goshu and Nail took her ship and headed straight for the Firbald Wormhole.  Meanwhile it was decided everyone else needed to train more on the Gravity deck of the Phoenix so everyone else stayed on the Phoenix as it headed for Namek to pick up several Namekian Healers.  The Phoenix would then catch up to Snow's ship at the wormhole.

While that part of the plan was simple enough the actual rescue mission to Saiya was anything but simple and it was leading to some very heated arguments between Roshi and Ichigo.

"For the last time NO!"  Ichigo yelled as she kicked Roshi into the wall of the gravity chamber.  The barrier fields crackled with ardent blue energy as they fought against the strain of Roshi's sudden impact.

"Why are you being so fricking stubborn?"

"I am not being stubborn.  I am just telling you that there is no way anyone is going to get on one of those stupid Capsule ships.  We are not cowards!"

Roshi bounced back and launched an uppercut into Ichigo's stomach.  She doubled over before she drove her knee into Roshi's side.  "Gah, no one is calling you a coward.  I just don't see why you are so opposed to having us try to save lives!"

Ichigo swept Roshi's feet out from under him and kicked him into the barrier field again.  "I am not.  If you would stop being so thick headed and listen to what I am saying I am trying to tell you that your plan WILL NOT WORK!"

"What do you mean it won't work?  You have a better plan to get your people off the planet in case this Blizzard or whatever his name is decided to blow it up?"

"That is not going to happen so I refuse to worry about it."  Ichigo grunted as she blocked a kick and was forced to take a step backwards.

"Oh now that is mature."  Roshi replied sarcastically.  "You do realize that in every known battle with a Changeling they have tried to blow up the planet as the last resort.  I hate to throw reality at you but it might happen."

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say!  You sound like you are already giving up!"  Ichigo screamed as she arced down from above to boot him in the head.

Roshi stumbled back a few steps before he regained his footing and balance.  "You're the one who keeps telling everyone how pointless this whole trip is.  Or was Kit lying?"

* * *

Up in the observation deck where she and Slip were watching the fight, Kit sighed.  "Considering the way those two have been going at each other for the past two hours, should I be worried about the fact Roshi is brining me into the fight?"

Slip just grunted as she brought up yet another energy allocation matrix on her holographic screen.

Slip was very closely watching just how much of the ship's energy was being diverted to maintain not only the intense gravity level found within the large Gravity Deck of the ship, but also to maintain the structural integrity force-fields that kept the two fighters from ripping the ship apart. 

"Hmm, that should do it."  She said to herself as she entered one last command into the program she had been running.  She then looked up and glanced over at Kit.  "You were saying something?"

Kit just rolled her eyes and turned back to look through the thick window that overlooked the Gravity deck.  The Gravity Deck was highly interesting even without Roshi and Ichigo fighting in it.  But with the fight it was hard to look away from.  Slip said that the two of them were fighting in just over 500 times Earth's gravity right now.  From the way they both moved so fluidly in the moments she could see them Kit found that hard to believe.  It was also quite hot in there.  Roshi was only wearing a mesh shirt and shorts.  Ichigo had started in a full gi, but had now stripped down to only a bra and shorts.

Kit wasn't overly certain she liked that.  While she wasn't the greatest judge of human or in this case Saiyan beauty, Ichigo was sculpted in such a way most human girls would probably kill for.  'No wonder Roshi has been acting absent minded since she showed up.  Good thing he said she was a bitch.'  Kit thought as she looked away from the fight to glance at a schematic of the ship Slip pulled up on her screen.

The Phoenix was a marvel of technology.  When traveling in space it was just under a kilometer long.  The massive drive section never left orbit and had been docked to an orbital space station since the last time the ship had been used, which happened to be when it had been used was a couple of hundred years ago when it had been the flagship of the rescue operation that saved Kit's people.

The drive section was four hundred meter's across and nearly five hundred meters long.  What had surprised Kit the most about it was that it wasn't built around the engines, but rather a massive 300 meter wide Gravity deck.

According to Slip, the Phoenix was originally built as a cruse ship so that Bulma in her retirement could get away from the Earth.  The only way she could get Vegeta to go with was to build a ship where he could keep training.  

Bulma being brilliant as always had built the ship to be modular so that she could swap the front section out to do various different jobs.  The rescue and medical ship part had been taken out of dry dock specifically for the trip to Saiya.  Likewise, the drive section had been quickly refurbished.

Slip was now droning on about how the force fields were actually absorbing some of the ki Roshi and Ichigo were making and adding it to the energy matrix powering the slipstream drive.

"Slip!  I don't really care.  I know you are having a field day playing with the stuff Bulma built but it really shouldn't be anything new to you."  Kit said in an attempt to get the cyan haired girl to listen.

Slip perked up.  "Actually a lot of this is new to me.  I mean, I've never gotten to play with a M-AM reactor before.  It is rather interesting.  The crystalline matrix of the gravimetric fields is also fascinating.  A lot of this tech isn't used any longer, as there really has been no reason to use them.  Like the Isoliner slipstream drive or the self-repairing liquipolimer alloys.  I just can't get enough of this ship!"

Kit blinked.  "Um, could you repeat that in something that resembles the level of technical know how of say... me?"

Slip laughed and rolled her eyes.  "Ok I have never touched most of the tech in this ship because like the Antimatter reactor, it is too volatile, or like the force-fields in the gravity room are too specific to be useful in other tasks.  The antimatter stream is really interesting.  Here let me show you the reactor specks.  It isn't really a true Matter annihilation reaction see cause it forms a quantum eddy here and that sucks the particles into a..." 

A rather cold shiver went down Kit's spine as her fur decided to stand on end.  "Um excuse me but just how volatile is it and just what have you done while tinkering?"

Slip stopped rambling and laughed.  "Actually not that volatile on this ship because of the redundant safety protocols.  It is just that long ago my family decided that antimatter was too dangerous to store on a planet.  So the Capsule Corp. has only built a few reactors.  Look, as I was saying..."

"Right, right." Kit said absentmindedly as she turned back to watch Roshi and Ichigo.  Roshi had always said there was nothing more tenacious than Slip when she finds new "toys" to play with.  Slip was a verifiable plethora of information, but she was way too much of an info geek for Kit to handle.

* * *

"She knew the risks!" Ichigo yelled back at Roshi for what had to be the hundredth time before she blocked a high kick that would have taken off her left ear.

"And yet you didn't help me stop her from coming!"  Roshi screamed back before he caught one of Ichigo's fists and hammer threw her into the far wall.  Ichigo bounced off the force field and landed on her hands and knees before she launched herself back at him.

"It was her choice to make.  She made it.  So why are you mad at me?"  Ichigo yelled before she swept her foot in an arc past Roshi's face.  Roshi reached out to grab at the foot and missed the crescent ki blast entirely.  

The blast exploded and knocked him back several meters.  When the smoke cleared it was easy to see blood flowing from his nose.

"Sha, rather slow on the uptake for a Super Saiyan."  Ichigo teased.

Roshi wiped the blood from his face and shook his head.  "That was good.  You've never done anything like that before."

Ichigo smiled.  "Yes I have.  Just not against you."

Roshi reached up to wipe more blood from his face.  Only half way there, he turned his hand and launched a fairly large blast at Ichigo.

It slammed into her, hitting her in the center of the chest and knocked her back into the force fields.  She finally pried it off of her and threw it at Roshi.  He simply backhanded it away from him.  The yellow ball of ki slammed into the barrier directly in front of the observation deck and then rebounded into the ceiling before it exploded.

"Bit slow and unguarded for a seasoned warrior wouldn't you say?"  Roshi teased back.

Ichigo just nodded.  "Yes, embarrassingly so as well.  Were I home right now my father would probably be having a conniption after seeing that."  She said sounding meek and defeated.

"ROSHI!!! ARE YOU TRYING TO BLOW THE DAMN SHIP UP?!?!?!"  Slip's voice suddenly screamed over the speakers.  "That blast almost knocked out the barrier fields.  Do I have to tell you what would happen if those fields had failed!?!?!"

Roshi looked up at the observation deck to see Slip glaring at him and Kit staring wide-eyed into the gravity deck.  "Oh, ah, hi Kit.  The force fields block my senses some.  I didn't realize you were watching."  Roshi suddenly jerked his elbow up and slammed it into Ichigo's chin as she dove at him.  He turned to wink at her.  "But it doesn't stop me from sensing your attacks."

"Jerk," Ichigo muttered under her breath as Kit started talking over the speakers.

"Yeah, I can't see much but I've been watching.  Roshi I'm sorry you are mad at me for being here but it isn't her fault.  If you want to talk about it, talk to me."

"Kit, I'm not mad.  I am just...  you shouldn't have come."

Ichigo tried to sweep Roshi's legs out from under him.  "Hey, we are still training here!"  Roshi back flipped over her leg and when she grabbed him to knock him over he reversed the hold and head butted her in the forehead.  

"And I'm talking here."  He said back as Ichigo fell on her rear and winced as she rubbed her head.

"Roshi, you can't protect everyone.  I need this don't you see!"  Kit replied back.

"No, I can see you think you do but you are trying to absolve guilt that you shouldn't actually have.  It isn't your fault you are alive."

"I know that!  I just need this."

"Why?"

"Because I need to.  Once when we were younger you told me that you hated it when people made a big deal over whom you were.  You said it drove you nuts cause you had not earned any of the respect or jealousy that people automatically gave you.  You said you hated it when people cared more about the fact that you were a Son than they cared that you were Roshi.  I ran and hid that day and I have regretted it ever since.  I know I can't blame myself but at the same time I need to prove that I have something to give back."

"I know where you are coming from."  Ichigo spoke up suddenly.  "I too have much to prove.  Not only to myself but also to my people.  My people have a saying.  Without danger, or risk, or pain, or trial, there is no battle.  Without that battle one can never find their true identity."  Ichigo turned and glared at Roshi.  

"Of all the contradictory things I have ever heard!  How can you take her side and at the same time deny your own people the chance to save their lives?"

Ichigo glared daggers.  "I am not denying them anything.  If you would open your wax filled ears and listen to me I have been trying to tell you that even if you did distribute your stupid rescue ships no one would use them.  Saiyans are not cowards.  We will fight and if we lose then we will die but we are not going to run away."

"Why?  What's the point?  You just talked about finding yourself in battle.  I bet you see all kinds of glory in this fight don't you.  Glory, and valor and a chance to redeem all those supposed slights to your precious pride and honor."

"How dare you!?!  Life without honor is not worth living.  A warrior with no pride has no soul! And yes there will be glory in the up coming fight but anyone who seeks glory will only find infamy.  Honor demands we fight so we will fight."

"Obviously your father saw something different.  You already said the only reason you are still alive is because he sent you away.  You already said you expect your father to be dead.  You could order your people off the planet.  You could save their lives like your father did for you."

Ichigo balled her fists and clenched her eyes closed.  Several tears squeezed their way out from between her eyelids.  They slowly rolled down her reddened face.  "Never.  I would never shame them like that."

Roshi threw up his arms in disgust and turned around shaking his head.  "Slip, turn the ship around.  We're going home."

"What?!?"  Ichigo screamed.  Her right hand snapped open and a ball of blue crackling ki formed in it.

Roshi turned and glared at her.  "Oh so you're mad now?  Go a head and throw the ki blast.  It won't do you any good."  Roshi said as he spread his arms out at his sides and went Super Saiyan.

The entire ship shook and alarms started to blare.

"ROSHI THE SHIP CAN'T HANDLE THIS MUCH STRAIN AFTER ALL THE FIGHTING YOU'VE ALREADY DONE!!! STOP THIS NOW!!!"  Slip screamed over the speakers.

"I said to turn the ship around Slip."  Roshi replied icily cold.

"You bastard.  You arrogant stupid petty jerk!"  Ichigo yelled.

"Petty?  I'm not the one being petty here Ichigo.  As I recalled you never once really even asked for our help.  I finally figured out why.  You couldn't bear having to humble yourself to the level of actually asking for help.  Better to die alone then live with the shame of having to be helped."

Roshi continued, "Open your eyes!  I got to know you over the past several months.  You are brilliant.  You adapt quickly and learn from your mistakes.  You are capable of so very much, but you confine your life to this little tiny box.  You refuse to look beyond the walls you have constructed.  I agree with you that honor is important, but it has to serve a purpose.  Honor for the sake of honor alone is pointless.  What good is an honorable death if no one gains from it?  Your father obviously saw more in you than you can even see.  Is the shame of not being dead already that horrible to you?  Do you want to die that much?  If all you want is to go home to die, I don't need to be there to watch."

Ichigo just stood there glaring at him.  She did not breath or twitch or move in any way.  Anger in its purest form bled from her eyes and her mind and she had no words to express it.

Roshi exhaled and his hair returned to normal as he powered down out of Super Saiyan.  "On the other hand, if you really truly want to do what your father sent you to do.  If you want to save your people than I want to help you.  What good is your pride or your honor or your glory or valor or any of those things if all it gains you is death?  At least if you let us try to save some of your people there is hope for the future.  Please tell me you learned something from your time on Earth.  There is so much more to life then what is inside your box.  Please, look beyond the next horizon for once and then tell me what you see.  Don't throw your and your people's lives away just for the sake of honor or glory or pride."  Roshi turned and headed for the door.  "When you have made up your mind, find me.  Until then I don't want to talk to you."

Ichigo stood there for several minutes just staring at the door before she looked up to see Slip and Kit still looking out of the Observation deck at her.

"Have you turned the ship around yet?"  She asked sounding defeated.

Slip shook her head no, "No, Roshi is just mad.  We made our choice at the family meeting.  I chose to risk death so that your people could live.  Until I know otherwise I'm not changing my mind."  Slip said before disappearing from Ichigo's view.

After Kit disappeared as well Ichigo fell to her knees and banged her fist into the floor.  "They just do not understand.  They do not understand and I do not know how to make myself clear."

* * *

Ichigo practically stalked back into her room.  Covered in sweat and blood, she wanted nothing more than to bathe and then curl up in a corner.

"Gaaaah!" Ichigo yelled as she slammed her fist into a slate gray titanium bulkhead.  The impact left a perfect fist print indentation complete with skin and knuckle markings. 

Two gentle knocks sounded on the door followed by the door chime.  Ichigo turned and glared at the door.  The ki of the person standing outside her door was not familiar so it could only be Kit.  'Why is she here?'  Ichigo thought.  "What do you want?"

"Can I come in?" Kit asked from the other side of the door.

Ichigo shivered in the cold air of her room and grabbed a sweatshirt before reaching over to hit the button to let Kit in. 

The door whooshed open and Kit walked into the room.  The moment she got into it her nose curled up and she looked like she was about to sneeze.

Ichigo paused with the sweatshirt above her head. "What?  Why are you making that face?"  

Kit blinked a few times and then wiped her eyes.  "Nothing, I always forget how... strongly Roshi smells after he's done working out.  I didn't think and I wasn't expecting it.  That's all."

Ichigo finished putting the shirt on and glared at Kit.  "If you only came in here to insult me, the door is behind you.  I do not need anymore, Roshi has insulted me well enough lately."

Kit cleared her throat, "no, I didn't mean to insult you at all."  She said before she caught sight of the fist print in the bulkhead.    "I ah, just came to thank you."

Ichigo walked past the stand where she had set her Royal Armor and sat down on one of the couches.  "For what?  I do not recall doing anything except for to make Roshi pissed at you."

"Well actually, in a way, for that."  Kit said as she walked past the armor.  "Isn't this a bit tight to fit you?"

"It stretches."

"Oh, well then... anyway I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me.  Roshi can be really thick headed at times."

Ichigo absent-mindedly reached up and rubbed her forehead.  "You can say that again.  I cannot get through to him.  Especially for the past few days, I cannot stand the way he has been acting lately.  I cannot seem to talk to him without getting into a petty argument."  

Ichigo exhaled and then frowned looking around the room as though she seemed to be looking for something.  She then turned to look at Kit again.  "Are you not cold?  My room is freezing, I do not understand how Roshi and his family can be so smart as to build that training room and still not be able to set a thermostat."

Kit smiled and walked over to the other chair.  "No, actually I am quite comfortable.  Cold doesn't bother me nearly so much as heat and humidity.  I hate it when my...  I'm rambling and I shouldn't be.  I just wanted to thank you for standing up for me.  Roshi is so used to being the hero that he doesn't realize that other people would want to take risks too."

Ichigo rolled her eyes and bit her lip.

"What?  What did I say?"  Kit asked apprehensively.

"I did not believe in heroes."  Ichigo said almost absentmindedly.

"What do you mean you didn't believe in heroes?  I would think that in a warrior society like what Roshi has storta explained you come from that heroism would be highly regarded."

"Please sit down, if we are going to have a longer talk I want you seated."

"Ok."  Kit said as she promptly sat down and rather curled into one of the chairs.

Ichigo half closed her eyes and then arched an eyebrow.  "Your tail is rather ridged is it not?"

"Um, I would guess.  I have never really thought about that aspect of my tail that much before.  I mean, I grew up around Humans so the fact that I have fur or the fact that I have a tail was always what got noticed and therefore was more important."

"Hmm, and guessing from the stuff that wench Ima Gossip was saying being different is not highly accepted?"

Kit sighed.  "Some people are stupid and unwilling to accept anything that differs from themselves.  Others are better.  I would not say that growing up for the most part on Earth has been easy, but I wouldn't say it was bad either.  Now stop avoiding my question.  Why don't you believe in heroes?"

"Because heroes are not possible on my world."  Ichigo said quietly.

"Not possible?  But heroism and valiancy and honor go hand in hand don't they?"

Ichigo looked up.  "No they do not.  You are forgetting about duty."

Kit sat silent for a moment and then replied.  "What about the phrase above and beyond the call of duty?  There has to be some sort of hero epic tale or something on your world."

Ichigo started laughing.  "Of course there are.  That is practically all there is for what you would call a folk tale or fable type story.  I just said I did not believe in heroes.  I am not entirely sure I do now."

Kit didn't know if she should keep prying or not, but she continued.  "Um, what do you mean?"

Ichigo pondered for a moment.  "I cannot even explain it to myself.  How can I explain it to you?"  She got up and walked over and opened the case Roshi had given her to put her mother's pendant in.  "My mother was the closest thing to a hero I have ever known and she died when I was five.  She was not a true hero, just a little girl's fantasy hero."

"So why don't you believe in heroes now?"

"I don't know.  Probably because it hurts too much when your heroes fail."  Ichigo said as she slowly turned the pendant in her hands letting the gems catch the light.

Kit was silent for a few minutes while Ichigo polished the gems and settings on the pendant.  "That is a lovely pendant.  I take it that it was your mother's?"

Ichigo tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling for a moment before she turned to look at Kit again.  "Yes, it has been in my family for generations."

"Hmm, well Roshi said something about you freaking out over not being able to find it so..."

"Roshi does not understand how valuable this is to me." Ichigo said interrupting Kit before she put the pendant back into the box.  "Roshi understands tradition, but he has no concept of pride or symbolism."

Kit could not help but laugh.  "You wanna bet?  Don't ever get into a competition with him unless you want to see the nasty side of his pride.  He doesn't lose gracefully."

Ichigo absentmindedly chewed on her lip for a moment, "I have noticed.  But being competitive is not the same as having pride.  Roshi practically has anti-pride.  He is almost embarrassed in his family's abilities.  He is more afraid of his strength then anything else.  He hides who he really is by nature so that not even that human female… what was her name?"

"Mariah, and she's his girlfriend."  Kit prompted tersely.

"Oh, right.  Human courtship rituals are really odd.  What is the purpose of calling her a name like that?  Titles should symbolize something, yet there is obviously little between them since he isn't even honest with her."

Kit felt her hair bristling at Ichigo's nearly derogatory comments towards her friends.  Yet there was some truth to her words.  'Why hadn't Roshi been willing to trust Mariah?'

"I just do not understand.  He has no pride in who he is.  Yet at the same time is so willing to stand up for his beliefs and fight for causes that should not be his own.  He is just, oh I cannot find the words but I can never seem to get a grasp on him.  He is like no one I have ever met before."

"So he's a bit odd, Roshi has always been unique."

Ichigo turned and glared at Kit.  "This is not funny.  I do not know how to relate to him.  Part of me wants to rip his head of and spit down his throat and the other part, well the rest of me is just confused.  I owe him for saving my life.  Yet at the same time I cannot forgive him for the slights to my honor he has committed."

"Hmm, sounds like you are in a pickle." 

"In a pickle?"  Ichigo asked bewildered.

"Oh, sorry, it is a phrase it means you are in a bind or a difficult situation.  Tell you what.  I know Roshi pretty well.  You tell me what your problem as exactly as you can and I can tell you how to wrap him around your finger and make him squirm."

Ichigo smirked.  "Interesting word imagery there.  I will try, but first, why are you helping me?  Why are you even bothering to talk to me?

"Well, I bothered to talk to you because I wanted to thank you.  I'm still talking to you because you seem to need someone to talk to."

"Roshi says I have closed myself into a box.  Well I am not totally enclosed in my box.  On Saiya I would never be even as open as I have been.  It is seen as shameful to talk about one's own problems."  Ichigo looked out the window at the streaking swirling starscape outside the ship, "but right now I have nothing else to lose by talking."

Kit was about to say something when the door chimed twice.  Ichigo looked up and then glanced at Kit.  "It is Roshi." She said and then louder, "What do you want?"

The door swooshed open and Roshi walked in.  "To talk."

"What did I tell you the last time you walked in on me uninvited?  Get out!"  Ichigo yelled from where she stood near her bed.

"Oh please, I could sense Kit in here.  It is not like I walked in on you nude again!"

Kit did a double take, "ROSHI!"

"That is not the point you pervert!  Now get out!  I do not wish to speak with you right now."

Roshi threw up his arms, a rather common occurrence around Ichigo as of late, and turned around.  "Fine, fine, be that way.  I came in here to apologize and try to patch things up, but I guess you are too damn inflexible to work with me."  He shouted as he walked out.

"Jerk!"  Ichigo shouted at the door.

"Bitch!"  Roshi shouted back from in the hall.

Kit rather huddled in the chair she had been sitting in and held her ears.  "Owwww, I think my ears are bleeding."

Ichigo paused and then walked over to Kit.  She pulled Kit's hands off of her head.  "Well it does not look like you are bleeding, but it is hard to tell with your hair in the way."

"Kit scowled.  "Well they are ringing.  I hate it when Roshi starts shouting.  He always forgets how loud he is."

"Just how good are your ears?"

"Does it matter?  Slip ran some tests once.  But I never really cared to ask her what she found out.  I just know that my senses are better than Roshi's.  If you ask me it is a pain.  Humans have this nasty habit of bathing in perfumes and talking way too loud."

Ichigo frowned.  "It is a pity your race is so frail.  I would expect you would make an impressive warrior with such acute senses."

Kit burst out laughing.  "Roshi tried to teach me to sense ki once.  He gave up.  He said he thinks I rely too much on my other senses and that blocks me from sensing ki.  I guess without that ability I would basically be rather useless in a fight."

"I would not say that, but if you cannot even feel your own ki then you probably cannot be trained."

"Now tell me, Roshi saw you nude?  This is a story I have to hear.  If for no other reason than to use it to make him blush and feel guilty for the rest of his life."

Ichigo's face flushed.  "I do not want to talk about it.  Besides, the nudity thing is not as important as the invasion of privacy.  You have to understand at home people would lose their heads barging into my private chambers.  I also find it extremely rude that Roshi is so concerned with his own privacy but does not respect mine."

Kit scrunched her nose, "I don't know if it is intended disrespect even though it is quite disrespectful"

"You cannot have it both ways."

"Right, so are we going to avoid discussing what you need help with as far as Roshi is concerned or are we just going to talk about why he is annoying?  Because everyone is annoying at times."  Kit probed.

Ichigo bit her lip and glared at the door.  "Is he always such an ass?"

Kit paused and shook her head.  "Actually no.  Roshi does get mad from time to time but I have never seen him verbally attack anyone like that before.  Well other than Ima Gossip, and she really deserved every bit of what he said to her.  I don't really know all what is going on here but you definitely have him riled up over something."

"Good."  Ichigo said smugly before flopping onto her bed and grabbing a can of nuts that was sitting beside it.  "It is nice to know I'm bothering him as much as he is bothering me.  Every time I see him I just want to beat that damn look off his face.  You know that stupid lopsided smile thing he almost has permanently stuck to his face."

Kit knew exactly the look she was talking about.  'Wow, I was worried about nothing.  Slip said they should be married, they argue like a couple, and I was worried there was something going on.  But I was completely wrong.  There isn't anything going on.  They hate each other.  I can almost feel the venom.'

"You hate him don't you?"  Kit asked bluntly.

Ichigo swallowed a mouth full of nuts.  "No, hate is such a strong word.  I loathe the way he acts at times.  But I owe him too much to hate him.  I just wish I could see eye to eye with him.  There was something we had while training... he was different.  Now he is so... I would almost say bitter, but he was acting like that even before the fight with Snow.  I do not know what it is.  He has changed."  Ichigo sucked on her bottom lip for a moment and then looked up.  "Oh, I should offer you some of these.  Roshi calls them cashews. They are quite good."

Kit shook her head, "No, I can't eat those.  They cause me all kinds of problems, so I am glad you like them.  However, if you have any chocolate stashed in here."

Ichigo rolled over and reached under the bed, "here."

Kit took the chocolate bar from her and gave her a really odd look.

"What?  You keep giving me the strangest looks what is wrong now?"

"Are you sick?  Roshi is one of the most giving people I know but he almost never shares his food."

"Ugh, I am fine.  I do not normally share either but Roshi or Slip or someone found a way to pack several tons of chocolate, and nuts, and other snack like foods into my room.  Even I cannot eat that much garbage and not get sick."

"Oh, well thanks."  Kit said realizing that Ichigo was doing an excellent job at changing the subject or avoiding the conversation.  "Anyway you definitely have Roshi very annoyed or flustered or something.  Like I said he doesn't lose his temper very often.  This might be the second time I have actually ever seen him mad.  In all actuality I think talking to me is a waste of your time.  You need to talk to him if you have any chance at understanding him."

Ichigo grimaced.  "I know. I have known that from the start, but I also know it will lead to another fight and if I cannot get through to him and he makes Slip turn the ship around then everything I have lived for will be lost and I do not know how to convince him that his plan will not work."

Kit smiled, which caused Ichigo to frown, "Ok, first thing you need to realize is that turning the ship around is an idle threat.  He won't do that.  Because he knows that without this ship then there is absolutely no chance for any of your people.  He knows that there is more of a chance your way than if he just gave up so he isn't going to give up.  Besides, Roshi can't say no to a fight.  I think that might be why he fights so much with you.  There is a challenge in it."

"Humph, That might make some sense.  But why would he start arguing with me now?"

"I don't know, perhaps because he is under a lot of stress.  Slip said she thinks the two of you are fighting over who is more responsible for us even being here.  I know you are the one who needed the help but Roshi claims the responsibility because he was the one who chose to help you when the much simpler thing would have been to... well just kill you when you first showed up."

"You need not remind me."  Ichigo held up her hand and stopped Kit from replying.  "And before you say it, I know I was wrong before I could be wrong again and I know that Roshi's plan if it would work would be the easiest way to save lives, but it will not work.  He doesn't understand what he is asking of me."

"Why not?  I don't understand why your people even with that love of battle would rather die than escape and live."

"Because pride demands it!  You do not understand how important pride and honor and duty are for my people.  Pride is everything.  Never backing down.  Never giving up, never needing help.  Pride is everything!  What Roshi is asking is like asking me to ask my people to stop being Saiyan!  I cannot do that! What I fear more than everything is that even if I were to order them to turn tail and run they may not listen!"

Ichigo jumped up and paced.  "My father shamed me when he sent me away.  Then to compound that, I lost my tail and I have been away for so long now.  I never really was accepted even before this happened.  Now they might not accept me back even if we do beat Blizzard."

Ichigo slammed her fist into the wall again leaving an even bigger dent.  "And if I showed up and even suggested something as cowardly and shameful as running away from a battle...  They would kill me before they went after Blizzard!"

Kit blinked.  "I take it back.  You are not in a pickle.  You're stuck between an irresistible force and an unstoppable object."

Ichigo stood up.  "Whatever, it does not matter.  I need to think.  I think best when I am training so I am leaving."

Ichigo walked past Kit without even a thank you as she led her out into the hall.  Kit stepped into the hallway and stopped.  She was surprised at how much warmer it was than Ichigo's room had been.  Ichigo didn't even look back.  Kit took a deep breath and leaned against the bulkhead watching Ichigo walk away.

* * *

Ichigo walked into the large Gravity room and saw Roshi sitting in the air cross-legged floating about a meter off the ground on the far side.  His eyes were closed and it was easily apparent that he was meditating.

'He just had to be in here.' Ichigo thought to herself disappointedly before she turned around to leave.

"Ichigo you don't have to go."  Roshi said to her retreating back.

"Yes I do, because if I stay all that will happen is a fight, and I need to relax before I even try to talk to you."  She said under her breath to herself as she continued out the door without replying to him.

"Ichigo, please come back.  I really need to talk to you."  Roshi called after her.

Ichigo looked through the window into the large pool area that was next to the gravity room.  Max was soaking in a hot tub by the pool and waving at her.

Against her better judgment she walked into the room to see what Max wanted.

"Hey there, I heard you and Roshi really got into it this morning."

"You could say that." 

"So what's up now?  You look upset over something.  Do you wanna talk about it?"

'What is with you people and talking about everything?  Talking does not solve problems.' Ichigo thought to herself.  "Not really.  Right now I think I just want to relax and try to warm up."

Max waved her hand over the large hot tub.  "Then join me.  I will try not to pester you too badly.  Oh, there are extra suits and stuff over in the locker room."

Ichigo thought about it for a moment or two and then sensed Roshi leaving the Gravity Room.  Since she was fairly certain he wouldn't follow her into the small women's locker room she quickly darted into it.

She waited in there about five minutes for Roshi to leave and then came out and stepped into the hot tub.  "Oh that feels good." 

Max nodded.  "Doesn't it just."

Ichigo did not answer as she casually unbraided her hair and let it fan out and about in the water.  "Yes it does." She finally answered.

"So... ah, I hope you don't think I'm prying but what's up between you and Roshi?"

Ichigo glared at her.  'so much for relaxing.'  She shrugged.  "Look, I am trying to avoid Roshi at the moment.  Could you please not talk about him?"

Max frowned.  "Even as large as this ship is, you can't hide from him forever."

Ichigo grimaced.  "I am not hiding.  I just do not want to think about the ass for a while."

"Oh is that why you were in the locker room for over five minutes just to slip into that bikini.  And here I thought you were trying to find the most fashionable suit in there."

The irony of what she said was not lost on Ichigo.  "I suggest you drop the sarcasm before we get to Saiya.  My people do not use it nearly as much as you people from Earth."

"At least you got my point."  Max smiled mischievously.  "So tell me, why did Roshi just ask me to cook my best recipes if there isn't something going on?"

"You expect me to understand what the jerk is thinking?  I have no clue!"

"Right."  Max replied smirking.

Just then Slip came in.  "Oh, there room for a third?  Whatcha ladies talking about?"

'I'm in hell.'  Ichigo grimaced but was silent.  'No other explanation needed.'

* * *

Meanwhile Roshi ran into Kit in the halls of the ship near his cabin.  "Hello." He said tersely as he walked by.

"My, someone is in a bad mood."  Kit replied.

"Gee, you think?"  Roshi said as he turned around to look at Kit.  "I hate to be petty, but I've busted my rear for her and the bitch won't even talk to me."  Roshi threw up his arms again, "Right now she's hiding in the women's locker room down by the pool.

Kit bent sideways a bit to look around Roshi at his rear.  "Hmmm, doesn't look broken yet.  Maybe you need to try harder."

"Kit this isn't funny.  If she won't work with me than this entire mission is doomed.  I didn't come out here just to throw my life away but that seems to be what she is bound and determined to do."  Roshi said back angrily.

Kit rolled her eyes.  "Hey Roshi, why don't you use that lauded brain of yours and think.  She is just as flustered by this as you are, but the two of you need to work things out because right now you are right.  I didn't come along to die either but right now I am frightened."

"How am I supposed to talk to her when she won't listen to me?"

Kit hopped forward and grabbed Roshi by the ears.  "Maybe you need to listen to her first."

Roshi cocked an eyebrow at her.  "You're lucky that doesn't hurt."  He said as he took a step back forcing Kit to follow or lose her balance. "I know, why don't I tickle you."

Kit who was enormously ticklish jumped back at the mere mention of the potential torture and shrieked. "No!  How about you stop avoiding the problem!"

Roshi cocked his head to the side and scratched his head.  "Ok, I know you like being the counselor, but I would have thought you would be glad Ichigo and I are not getting along.  You seemed worried I was spending too much time with her."

Kit frowned.  "Ok you have me on that.  That was actually one of the reasons I wanted to come along, but I don't think I need to worry about this now.  She hates you; well she at least really hates the way you have been acting.  But to get to the point, I can't live my entire life vicariously.  If you don't work things out with her than this is going to be a very short trip to hell."

Roshi nodded slowly.  "I know, but I don't know if I can.  She doesn't seem to want to work things out."

"Just give her time."

"I don't know if I can afford to.  Right now time is the stalker and we are falling behind."

Kit smiled.  "Ichigo said she doesn't believe in heroes Roshi.  Mariah, myself, and probably anyone else you have ever helped knows you have the heart of a champion.  Perhaps now when time runs short you'll find the measure of yourself and we will all find a hero."

Roshi didn't know how to respond, and Kit didn't let him as she disappeared into her cabin directly after her statement.

* * *

"So what are you two girls talking about?  Slip asked as she gingerly and very carefully stepped into the hot tub.  Slip was wearing an amazingly skimpy string bikini and Ichigo almost laughed at how she seemed to be afraid she would fall out of it.

"Boys" Max said with a laugh.  Max was only 25 and was one of the youngest members of the older generation, but it seemed to phase Slip for a moment that she was acting so girly.

Outside Tee and Boxers walked past leaving the Gravity room.  Tee did a double take and then kept walking.  

"Speaking of the boys, Ichigo, what do you think of those two?"  Max prompted.

Ichigo looked up in time to catch the two before they disappeared down the hallway.  "What do you mean?  What do I think?  I think they are both able fighters if a bit under-disciplined.  If they had half the integrity and focus Roshi has they would be fearsome together, but they do not so most of their talent is wasted."

Max laughed.  "That is an astute judgment of their abilities. But I was talking about what you thought of them as guys.  Do you think they're hot?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ichigo asked bewildered.

"Max you are not going to get anywhere, her culture is totally different than ours."  Slip interjected.  "From what I gather fighting ability is worth more than brains, personality, or looks on Saiya."

Ichigo's mouth fell open as what they were talking about suddenly dawned on her.  "Oh you are talking about what I think about them as far as potential mates!"

Slip laughed.  "Duh!"

Ichigo's mouth clicked shut.  "I cannot believe you are asking things like that about family members.  It is so... so uncouth!"

Max laughed, "Oh please it is not like we are talking about sex.  Just boys.  Since they are basically the only ones you have seen on Earth that is a place to talk.  Or do you have some sexy stud waiting for you on Saiya?"

Slip held up a hand in an attempt to stop Max, but it was too late.  Ichigo's eyes got a far away look in them and her face paled.  "There is no one waiting for me anywhere."

* * *

Roshi was walking back toward the pool when Tee and Boxers ran past him.  "Roshi come with us!  This is going to be great!"

"Hey! What's up? Hey guys!"  Roshi yelled after them as they disappeared down the hall.

* * *

Max blanched, "Oh I didn't mean to..."

"Just leave her alone Max."  Slip interrupted.  "They arrange marriages on Saiya.  The guy she was supposed to marry is dead."

"Do not talk about me or him like we need to be pitied!"

Slip held up her hands.  "Sorry I didn't mean to make you mad.  It is just a really different system than what we are used to.  I mean say you fell in love with some guy but were arranged to marry someone else, what would happen?"

Ichigo shrugged.  "I read all those journals Gohan, and Pan and Videl and all those people left in that house.  They talked about love like it was some great mythical force that made the world go round or something.  I have never loved anyone but my parents and perhaps my aunt.  Love only causes pain when they die or leave or you cannot help them.  I do not understand why everyone on Earth thinks it is so important."

"Oh that is the saddest thing I have heard in a long time."  Max said as she leaned over to place a hand on Ichigo's shoulder.

Ichigo shrugged it off.  "Why is it so sad?  From what I have heard Slip's parents are not in love with each other.  And from what she said during our time in the Room of Spirit and Time she thinks all men are filthy sexist pigs.  How can you place so much importance on something that you don not even see in your own lives?"

Slip's mouth fell open.  "Well I never!  You talk about us being uncouth!  How dare you say things like that about my parents?!?"

"She's only telling the truth Slip."  Max replied to shush her before she turned back to Ichigo.  "So if you don't want or don't look for love, what qualities do you look for in a guy?"

Ichigo was interrupted when the door to the pool suddenly opened and a cleaning droid came into the room.  It slowly worked its way around them and backed into a recharging slot in the wall.

"That's odd.  The druids aren't sposta be on right now."  Slip said as she stood up to look at it.

Max grabbed her and pulled her back into the hot tub.  "Oh relax.  It came from the Gravity Room.  It was probably just cleaning up a mess the guys left."

Slip sat back down and frowned.  "Yeah, I bet you are right.  There aren't any recharging things in there so if it was almost out of power it would go to the closest one."

* * *

Up in the droid control room Tee let out a sigh of relief.  "Damn that was close!"

Boxers gave him a high five.  "Ok we have the camera working.  Now let's get some sound and operation peeping tom will be under way!"

Roshi slapped his forehead.  "And they call me a perv!"

"oh, oh, oh! Looky here!"  Tee said as Ichigo leaned back against the side of the hot tub and stretched her back.  Tee zoomed in on her chest and abs.  "Oh, sweetness!  You just stretch yourself out all nice now!"

Roshi socked him in the side of the head.  "Stop that!  It is one thing to spy on them but a totally different one to treat her like a peace of meat or something!"

Boxers started laughing.  "Oh the man gets all defensive.  What's wrong?  You think you're the only one that should get to ogle her all day long?  I mean you can't say you don't enjoy the show while you're training with her."

Roshi blushed.  "Yeah, she's good looking but that isn't everything you know."

"Yeah we know, everything would be the combination of her eyes, her ass and her chest."  Tee teased.

"TEE I can't believe you said that!  And you're even dating!!  How would you feel if some one were to talk about Aiako like that?"

Tee just laughed.  "Dude, Aiako is a swimsuit model.  All I ever hear are guys talking about her like that.  But even she ain't as fine as Ichigo."  He said as he zoomed in on the side of her face.  "Besides, unless you aren't telling us something you ain't dating Ichigo."

Roshi did his best impersonation of a fish for several moments before he even attempted to say anything.  "Well up until yesterday I thought I was dating Mariah, but now I'm not so sure.  Could we please not talk about Ichigo?"

Boxers made one last change to the program he was playing with, "sounds on now!"

"So you said you've never scoped out a guy?  Oh come on don't tell me you've never seen a guy and though aah, bet he'd be fun in bed?"  Max asked.

Tee turned to Roshi with a smug face and said.  "Right and you thought the girls were just talking about flowers or something?  Please don't act like we're the ones with sick minds."

"That is disgusting.  But since you obviously will not leave me alone until I talk about it, yes I do on occasion size up males cause they would make good mates, but your infatuation with sex just for the point of sex is borderline vulgar!"  Ichigo replied aghast.

Max laughed.  "Right so just for the heck of it Roshi, Tee, or Boxers which one would be the best ah... mate?"

Roshi got very pale.  "I can't believe she asked that!"

"I'm not going to answer that!  I don't even want to think about that!"

"Wow, you used contractions!"  Slip replied suddenly.  "You shouldn't get so worked up Ichigo."

"Who is getting worked up?  I just do not understand why she is being so invasive!"

"And now Ichigo gets defensive."  Roshi replied up in the control room.

Max laughed easily.  "Oh come on, tis just harmless fun and all.  There has to be one of them that you'd do."

"Gah, No thank you!  What is your big thing with sex?"

Tee looked up at Roshi.  "Ah poor boy.  Not going to get any."

Roshi smacked him in the back of the head.  "I never said I wanted any in the first place!"

"Right, cause obviously Roshi is gay."  Boxer replied with a snort.

"I don't know what your big problem is.  I mean Aiako aside, that is one field that I would definitely not mind playing ball on."  Tee quipped.

"I'd rather go chisel plowing, but to each their own."  Boxers added.

"I'm not listening to this!"  Roshi said before he started to hum to himself.

Down in the hot tub the conversation didn't stop either, "cause she's twenty five and she's never been laid."  Slip said laughing.

"I have so!"  Max said back slashing water all over Slip.

"Ohh really?  Who was he and was he any good?"  Slip replied back.

Roshi reached over Boxers and hit the mute button.  "We are NOT going to listen in on Max talk about her sex life.  There are things I really, really don't want to know."

Tee pushed Roshi's hand away and un-muted it.  "Dude just don't think of her as our cousin.  I mean come on this is better than stealing a girl's diary.  Think about the stuff we can learn today!"

Boxer's chimed in.  "Yeah think about poor Tee.  The boy's been dating a swimsuit model for over a year and if he's telling the truth he still hasn't gotten past first base!"

Roshi laughed.  "Now that is pathetic."

"Hey, just cause you grabbed a chunk of grade A real-estate the first time you really dealt with Ichigo doesn't mean all of us are as fast as you!"

They missed something while it was muted so all they caught was.  "...good while it lasted.  So how bout you there Slip.  Why so do you hate guys so much?"

Roshi muted it again.  "Ok, anyone need to hear Slip bitch about how Kevin only wanted to fondle her?"

Tee un-muted it.  "Heck yeah we might learn something new!"

"...he was nice at first but then all he wanted to do was play with my boobs.  I can't stand how guys only like me for my money or my looks.  And just what is it with their fascination with breasts?"

"I couldn't tell you, but the ministrations of a man's touch isn't always bad Slip.  It can be down right enjoyable."

"Let me guess same guy or a different one?"

"I'll tell ya later..."

"Ahh damn, just when it was getting good!"  Tee whined.

"...  So, Ichigo, how about you?  You ever been touched by a guy?"

Roshi muted it.

"DUDE STOP THAT!"  Both Tee and Boxer's yelled.  It took the both of them to get Roshi's finger off the button so they could un-mute it.

"... even suggest such a thing!  I am a princess and I am not married and that is just indecent!  I aught to..."

Roshi muted it again.

"ROSHI!"

"... ever grabbed your rear or your chest?  What guys afraid of you or something?"  Max pried.

Boxers broke the button so Roshi couldn't mute it again.

"Gah!  You just will not give it a rest will you?  And YES, I have been grabbed all over the place, primarily buy Roshi, and YES males on Saiya are afraid of me.  If any of them would have done even a fraction of the things Roshi has done they would have probably been castrated and sent to some work camp someplace!"

Roshi suddenly got very pale. 

"Wow, and here I thought Roshi was too much of a mamma's boy to try anything like that.  So what did he do?  Common juicy details wanted."

"Why do you care?"

"Cause we can use this to mock him for the rest of his life.  So give ups the details what did he do?"  Slip asked.

"Well to start with he grabbed and ripped off my tail and that is a hell of a lot more intimate of a thing to grab than just about anything else.  And if you think I forgot about what you did to it you are quite mistaken."  Ichigo said glaring at Slip.

"Wow, she's bitter.  I wonder why the tail would be considered intimate though?"  Tee pondered.

"I said I was sorry now what else has my nasty cousin Roshi been up to?"  Slip said with a very mischievous grin.

"Well he likes to walk in on people when they are nude.  But you already knew that."  Ichigo said back.

"WHAT?!  Max said and was echoed by Tee and Boxers in the control room.

"Roshi walked in on me in the Room of Spirit and Time when I was changing my clothes.  It was an accident but it was really embarrassing.  I think the two of us got him back for it though."

"So that's why they were working together!  I never could figure that out!"  Tee exclaimed.

"Wow, so innocent acting Roshi is a naughty boy.  What else has he done?"  Max asked.

"Yeah, you said he's grabbed you all over.  There something going on between you two?"  Slip asked.

"Is there?" Tee repeated.

"NO!"  Both Roshi and Ichigo said at the same time.

"Look like what Slip said, with the exception of ripping off my tail nothing Roshi has done was on purpose.  In our first fight he ended up grabbing my chest and almost ripping my bra off.  I was furious at the time and almost took his head off when he stopped to apologize for it in the middle of our fight."

"What, he stopped fighting to tell you he was sorry for grabbing your chest?"  Max said stunned.

"Dude, that was really stupid."  Boxers teased, talk about forgetting your focus!"

"Yes, now that I think about it he has always been like that.  In all actuality he has treated me with more respect than just about anyone except my father." Ichigo mused.

"Ah, so that's the game plan.  Trick her with respect?  I see what you're doing!"  Boxers teased.

"Ohhh, you like that don't you?  So did you like it when he grabbed you?"  Slip teased.

"No!  It hurt!"

"And what if he did it again?"

"What do you mean if he did it again?  In a fight?  I would probably kick him in the groin.  But Roshi would never do that on purpose anyway.  Tee seems to gawk at me funny, he might.  If he tried it I'd probably rip his balls off.  But this entire conversation is pointless so could we please talk about something else?"

"Hmmm, yep, needed to be reminded of that.  You can have her."  Tee said quickly.

"Oh look the sexy vixen is joining them.  This could get interesting."  Tee said as he panned the camera over to where Kit was walking up to the hot tub.

"Sexy vixen?"  Roshi asked.  "Dude, you have seriously got to get some help.  She would never ever go for someone like you.  You don't have enough hair."

"So what are you all talking about?"  Kit asked as she walked up to the side of the tub.

"Guys."  Max said quickly.  "Come on in and join us!"

"Yes do."  Tee said.

Roshi glared at Tee.  "You realize that she's like a sister to me.  I will take offense to sexist comments."

"Oh like you took offense to this?"  Tee said as he zoomed in on Ichigo's chest.  "Damn those are firm, that isn't even an underwire!"

Roshi grabbed Tee under his left armpit and tossed him out of his chair.  He then de-zoomed the camera.

Tee got up and brushed himself off.  "Like I said, you are so defensive!"

"I am not!  It is just really rude to treat any girl like that.  I am half tempted to go down there and tell them what you are doing."

"Oh you are such a spoil sport!" Boxer's cried.

Down below at the pool the girls had managed to talk Kit into at least changing into a suit and sitting in a lounge chair near the hot tub. 

"Well I doubt there will be a suit in there that fits me, but I will look."  Kit said as she walked off camera.

"Everyone gather round." Slip said as she started whispering to the two other girls.

"Tee see if you can boost the gain on the microphone."  Boxers said quickly.  "We're missing good stuff if she's whispering."

"Oh you two are pathetic," Roshi commented.

"... so we can't talk about Roshi while Kit is in here.  Cause then she'll just go off on how wonderful Mariah is and Mariah is so wrong for Roshi."  Slip whispered to the other two.

"Hey, boost the volume!  What was that?"  Roshi said suddenly as he was instantly poised directly above the speakers.

"Whatever you say, I never wanted to talk about the jerk in the first place."  Ichigo replied.  "But I have to ask since you people claim dating or whatever you call your courtship customs, is for the purpose of finding the right person, how do you know Mariah is not right for him?"

"cauh," Slip coughed.  "You can answer that yourself Ichigo.  You've met her, what's your opinion?"

"Well she is timid and weak and just from what little I have seen and heard she needs Roshi's emotional support, which if you ask me is truly odd to see a male with an obvious sensitive side it is so... un-masculine and if I had not seen him fight I would have thought he was not fit to be a warrior but he is and well she would try to kill his warrior's spirit.  A warrior like Roshi needs danger and she would try to keep him from it."

"Who the hell does she think she is?  She doesn't know a damn thing about Mariah!"

"Whoa there boy.  You realize how rarely you swear?  That just sounds wrong coming outta your mouth!  Boxers said as he jumped up to keep Roshi from smashing the control board.

"I wouldn't know if she is right or not, but I know someone that would be a lot better for him."  Max said.

"I kinda hope you are not thinking the same person that I am thinking because if you are thinking who I am thinking than that might make life very interesting."  Slip said back.

"Who are they talking about.  Give me a name!  Don't just talk about me and not give me a name!"  Roshi pleaded to the screen.

"Dude, I think they are talking about Ichigo and they don't want to die so they aren't about to tell her to her face."  Boxers said.

"Ichigo?  Oh no!  No way in heck!  Awe ah! NO!"

"SO WHAT HAVE I MISSED?"  Kit said as she came out.

"Ahh turn the gain down!  Turn the gain down!"  Tee cried as the speakers squealed.

"Oh found a suit that fits."  Slip said sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I had to cut a whole in the bottoms for my tail, but it fits.   So, what did I miss?"

"Oh nothing much," Slip relied.  "We were just talking about all wanting a nice chunk of hunka hunka man-meat."

"Oh is that all?"  Kit said as she stretched out on a towel.

"You zoom in on her and I will break your hand."  Roshi said as Tee moved his had to and then away from the camera controls.

"Hmmm, ok then I will just have to do this!"  Tee said as he quickly grabbed the controls and zoomed in on Ichigo again.

"Grow up Tee!"  Roshi said as he once again de-zoomed the camera.

"So, Kit you got hunk scoped out?" Slip asked.

"Ka! No.  I'm the only Vulpine in my age group that lives in Satan City.  Makes it rather hard to find a hunk when there are none.  But what about you Slip?  You could have the pick of any guy you wanted.  Why don't you have a hunk of man meat as you so call them?"

"Well actually, I'm thinking I'm going to go steal one from Saiya.  All the stories always tell how loyal Goku and Vegeta were.  I think a nice studly man that doesn't worship my name or money or only look at my boobs would be a great idea."

Ichigo burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"  Slip demanded.

"No Saiyan warrior would be caught dead in the bed of such a prissy girl like you!"  She laughed.

"Prissy girl?  I'm a good deal stronger than you were when you got to Earth.  Maybe I'll just have to beat him up and take him home all cave woman like."

Now Kit and Max were laughing.  "You know, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea.  I could cook him something really nice and steal his heart, er I mean stomach!"  Max suddenly jumped up.  "Speaking of which if I'm going to cook the stuff Roshi asked for I need to get moving.

Max quickly readjusted her black bikini top and then headed our of camera shot.

"Hmm, you know if she wasn't our cousin."  Tee said jokingly.

"Oh that is just sick!"  Roshi said.  "Look if you two want to be pervs and keep spying on the girls than be my guest but I have stuff to do.

* * *

Noon, 

Roshi walked into the galley of the ship to find Max just starting to work on dinner.  "Ah Max what's up I'm hungry."  Roshi said as he walked past and stole several carrots.

"Roshi stop that!  I need those for the egg roles!" Max shouted as she slapped his hand with a spatula she had been using to mix some ingredients together with.

"Youch! Hey do I smell Chlorine?  Don't tell me you were soaking in that hot tub all morning?"

Max smirked at him.  "Actually I was.  And Ichigo is very interesting to talk to by the way."

"Ok I am being baited.  Why am I being bated?  Why should I care what you talked about?"  Roshi forced himself to say.  'Yeah I know just what you talked about.  Who would have guessed you were such a gossip?'

"Cause it is fun.  So tell me, why was Ichigo in such a huff this morning?"  

Roshi tried to play innocent.  "What didn't you talk about it in the hot tub?"

"No we didn't we talked about getting ourselves some man meat as Slip calls it.  Ichigo has some interesting ideas about you."

Roshi blushed and barely caught himself before he started arguing with her.  "Like what?"

Max grabbed one of the largest chef's knives and held it up.  "Why don't you tell me?  Or weren't you in on the bugged cleaning droid?"

Roshi felt the blood not only leave his face, but also do it at record setting speed.

"Oh look, you were part of that!  You must have really enjoyed that conversation.  I hope I made it juicy enough for you."

"Ya... You... You knew?!?"

"Max smiled really, really big.  Midway her smile turned to a smirk. "Caught you.  I guessed.  Thanks for confirming it."

Roshi just gapped at the air like a fish on land.

"Oh relax.  See you are still in High School so you know little or nothing about panty raids or bugging the showers, or all the other fun pranks I helped pull when I was in college.  Next time you boys try using the cleaning droids though, try to remember that these are the same model as what was in my restaurant.   There is a light that blinks when they are actually recharging."

Roshi smacked himself in the forehead.  "It was Tee and Boxers.  I just happened to get roped in!"

"Right, right, mamma's boy."

"Hey, I resemble that comment!"

Max started laughing, look Roshi, I know you are under a lot of stress and all but both you and Ichigo need to relax.  She is the princess and you are the Super Saiyan that is supposed to save the world.  But you need to remember to just be a guy and let her just be a girl for a bit."

Roshi held his hands up.  "I'm dating Mariah!  I really don't like what you seem to be suggesting and I don't want to hear it again!"

Max frowned.  "Roshi, this has nothing to do with love or dating or anything like that.  What I was trying to say is that every boy needs to be a hero and every girl needs a hero.  Right now she doesn't need you or me or anything else.  She needs a hero to show her the way home."

"You sound like Kit."

Max shrugged.  "Kit's a smart girl."

"No go find Ichigo and listen to her.  I heard the jist of what was said while the two of you were fighting in the Gravity Room today.  I think both of you need to just listen to each other and stop only hearing what you want to hear."

"You know, you are pretty smart for a simple cook."  Roshi said before he dodged the carrot she tossed at him.

"Any cook worth their salt shaker knows that presentation and performance is just as important as flavor.  You would be amazed at how many people come to me with their problems.  I wouldn't be able to give them just the right stuff to make their day better if I wasn't a good psychologist too you know."

"Right."

* * *

Kit, Slip, and Ichigo were just leaving the Pool when Roshi got down there.  All three were draped in towels.  "Ah Ichigo we need to talk."

Ichigo turned around and walked back into the pool area. 'Damn it, just when I was finally relaxing and not thinking about him.'

Roshi pushed past Slip and Kit and followed her.  "Look I don't like forcing people to do things they don't want to do but if you go hide in the locker room again I will follow you in there this time."

Roshi could feel Kit and Slip leaving the scene.  Neither one of them wanted to be anywhere near the explosion they expected.

Ichigo turned around and looked at Roshi.  She closed the towel tighter around herself.  "No, you don't need to say anything.  I need to talk.  I just realized something.  I realized that I trust you.  You have always treated me with respect, more respect than I even have for myself at times.  You are so far outside and beyond anyone I have ever met before and you have earned my respect and my trust."

Ichigo looked off into the pool for a moment.  "Which is why the way you have been acting the past few days is so very aggravating.  I cannot seem to be able to make you understand why your plan will not work."

Roshi glanced at the droid sitting over in the recharging socket.  "I'm sorry.  Look, go change into something more comfortable.  We can continue this someplace more private."

"Thank you for understanding.  I will talk to you after we eat.  I understand you requested something especially filling?"

Roshi blushed.  "Ah, yeah I did."

"Ok, well then I will talk to you later."  Ichigo walked past him and then paused at the door.  "Roshi, could you possibly look into raising the temperature in my cabin?  I never did believe in coincidences and to have both Pan's old house and my cabin be practically freezing makes me wonder."

"Uh, yeah, I'll look at it."

* * *

2:00 pm.

"I cannot believe you made me fall for that eating prank again."  Ichigo said as she led Roshi onto the observation deck.  

"Well you are the one who made it into a competition."  Roshi replied.

Ichigo sat down in one of the overstuffed couches that looked out the great domed bay window to the starscape beyond.  The blue and red and purple tendrils of energy created by the slipstream drive played across the stars and made the view both eerie and soothing.

"You still should have beaten me."

Roshi laughed.  "Not when you were bound and determined to win."

Ichigo was silent.

"Ichigo, I need to apologize.  I've been a royal ass these last few days."

Ichigo turned and cocked an eyebrow at him.  "Careful there, I do not recognize your claim to the throne.  You have to be Royal to be a Royal Ass."

"Ok, fine then, I've been a very large jerk.  That work for you?"

Ichigo smiled.  "Why yes it does.  At least you are starting to know your place."

"Right, can we keep the mutual teasing and mocking to a minimum?  I would really rather keep this civil than have a fiasco like this morning."  

Ichigo looked admonished.  "I know, I am sorry."

Roshi walked around and looked at the stars for a bit.  "You know I think today is the first time you genuinely thanked me for anything, and I know it is the first time you have apologized."

Ichigo scowled.  "Yeah, well do not get too used to it."

Roshi smiled.  "Nice to know you are still you, and not a shape shifting pig or something."

"What?" Ichigo asked confused.

"Never mind, it is a very, very long story."

"Roshi, I have never been one for idle talk, so let me get down to the reason we need to talk.  Your plan will not work."

"Ok, but before we talk about that I need to say something I have been meaning to say for two days.  Ichigo, I don't know how you knew, but you knew I needed help when I was fighting Snow.  I had read all the stories and thought I knew, but I wasn't ready to be a Super Saiyan.  I don't even really remember what you did, but I know you brought me back from the edge of the abyss.  I owe you my life, everyone owes you their lives, and I thank you for doing whatever it was you did to do that."

Ichigo shook her head.  "No, please do not thank me for that.  I was just doing what I had to do.  You are the one who deserves to be thanked."

Roshi rolled his eyes.  "Well one of us deserves credit for keeping us alive and if you won't accept it than I am just going to have to write a nice epitaph for Piccolo because I wasn't doing anything but what I had to do either."

Ichigo held up a finger to stop Roshi.  "Hold that thought for a moment."  She got up and went to the back of the room were a large water cooler stood.  After getting two cups of water she walked back to him.  I saw this thing in a movie; I believe it was called a toast.  It was to a fallen soldier.  I think if I understand right this would be a time for one of those toasts.

Roshi just looked at her through half lidded eyes.  "That is so unfair."

"What?"

"You have soaked up human culture like a sponge but I know hardly anything about your culture.  Which I think is why we have been having this continuing argument."

Ichigo sucked on her lip.  "So I was right?"

"Yes, now give me that!"  Roshi said as he took the offered cup.

"To Piccolo, may he be in a better place."  Roshi toasted.

"To Piccolo."

Roshi turned and looked at Ichigo.  "You know, Kit warned me about this.  She said that you liked to avoid the topic.  So shall we get down to business?  Why won't my plan work?  Why won't the surviving Saiyans want to get on the ships and go to where it is safe?"

"Pride." Ichigo said, "pure and simply pride will keep them.  My father ordered me away when I knew that Blizzard was coming.  While he sent me on a mission of hope and it was a huge responsibility at the same time it was shameful because I was in effect running from battle.  What was even more shameful was that I had to seek help."

Roshi scratched his chin.  "Why is asking for help so shameful?  There is a saying.  No man is an island.  What it means is that no one can do everything alone.  Children need parents, friends need each other, and we all need to work together to become stronger."

Ichigo shook her head.  "No, you are still thinking like a human!  A Saiyan never asks for help.  Asking for help is a sign of weakness.  My people live for combat.  We live for the battle but there is nothing gained by beating on an easy foe.  You called the trial I took when I was twelve barbaric, and children do die every year, but only the best survive.  To run from a challenge is shameful.  It goes against everything we are."

Roshi closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.  "So what you are saying is that every time I beat you in a battle you were beaten and there was some shame in it, but every time I saved you in a battle that was really shameful because it signified you were not capable yourself?"

Ichigo got a far away look in her eyes and for a moment Roshi was certain she was embarrassed.  "Yes, you are right.  While what you did was correct and dutiful it shamed me every time.  Poor warriors live with that shame while those that are like you are honored."

'No wonder she hates me.' Roshi thought, 'and no wonder she doesn't believe in heroes.  In order to have a hero they have to save you from something.' 

Roshi looked at the ground.  "Ok there was quite a bit written about this because of Vegeta, but um... why have you never mentioned your tail?"

"Do you actively seek to insult me or are you just bad with words?"  Ichigo snarled.  "You want the whole story?  Ok fine!  While you have sufficiently proven that a tail is not needed for one to be a Super Saiyan, it is needed to become an Ouzaru.  In the days before the civil war and before Saiya lost her moon, any warrior that lost their tail in battle was summarily executed.  No questions were asked.  No reprieves given."

"That's horrible!"

"No that is life!  Even to those who believed in it, Super Saiyan was mostly a myth.  Ouzaru is real.  Since most of the real battles took place under a full moon, a warrior without a tail was useless.  They were better off dead."  Tears streaked her face, as she turned away from him too ashamed to let him look at her.

"Ichigo, I didn't know.  I am so sorry... I..." Roshi trailed off at a loss for words.

"Well now you do.  You have to see.  Pride is not about the victory or the glory or the honor or any of that.  It is for the battle itself.  It is the ability to say I am able.  I am capable. I am honorable. I am valiant.  I am something!  Without that pride we are nothing."

Ichigo brought her knees up and hugged her chest.  "You probably figured out from everything Banana said that my society is very patriarchal.  The last time a Princess took the throne was 1,242 years ago now.  Even if I showed up now with you a Super Saiyan at my side the shame from running from the battle and the shame of not having a tail might keep many of them from being willing to follow me.  And that is just following me into battle with Blizzard.  If there is anyone like Banana still alive he will be in charge and the people will follow him not me."

"If I were to even hint at something as shameful as running from battle.  None of them will follow me.  I would not if I were in their place."

"Ichigo!"

"No, do not, please do not say anything.  You wanted to know if I planned to die or wanted to die?  Well now you know.  In the eyes of many I still hope to save I already am dead.  I plan on saving my people.  I plan on killing Blizzard and any other blight infected Changeling on Saiya.  Whether I live through it or even eventually take the thrown isn't important.  Just that my people live."

Roshi got up and walked around her so he could look into her eyes, but Ichigo turned away.  "Just go away.  I need to think.  I need some time by myself."

* * *

Roshi found Slip in engineering.  "Did we get that transmitter hooked up on Snow's ship?"

"Yeah why?"  Slip said without even looking up.

"I need to call my dad.  I think this trip just became one way."

* * *

READ THIS!!!!!  PLEASE REVIEW THIS CHAPTER! 

**_ALSO READ THIS!!!  PLEASE PLEASE_** if you want to post questions or gain some extra info on my fic or my other writings go to ( I am sorry, but FF.net will no longer let me post complete links so you are going to have to type this out. "Smooster . proboards18 . com / index . cgi"  Or just copy it and remove the spaces.  There is no www.)

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If you want to see soon please go read AND review Josav's fic.

"fanfiction . net/ read . php? storyid=1328230"  - same thing here... or you could go to my favorite authors, Josav is listed.  

Anyway It took me forever to get her to come back and if no one reviews her fic I will be very unhappy.  If you don't like it tell her.. please be honest.  But please review.  Your Reviews are the only thanks we author's get for our work.

Thank you for your patience. Special thanks to all those who helped me make this chapter and take it from my mind to the text on the screen.  You know who you are.

The Smooster.


	46. Looking into Oneself

Chapter 46

Looking into Oneself

Tuesday, July 1st, 11 a.m.

Five days had past since Roshi had quietly left her to regain her composure there on the observation deck.  It had been a lonely forty minutes that she had sat there thinking.  

Ichigo had done a lot of thinking in those five days.  Unfortunately patience was one virtue she was lacking.  While Ichigo enjoyed a good mental challenge as much as any other intelligent inquisitive person, she did not like it when she failed to grasp a concept.  Infact, in those times she liked to ponder deeply about as much as she had enjoyed Roshi ripping off her tail.

So she decided to attempt to distract herself anyway she could.  She therefore, found herself and glaring out the window of her cabin.  Outside the ship, the energy ribbons created by the slipstream played across the starscape.  Ichigo sat at the small desk in her cabin and watched the pattern of the energy change as the ship slowed.  With a slight shutter and barely noticeable shift in gravity the ship leapt out of the slipstream and almost literally slid to a stop.  Outside the ship what had been a hardly noticeable change over was violently displayed in the collapsing fields of energy and the wash of plasma and light from the slowing ship.

It was an impressive display and one of the sights of the universe Ichigo never would have even thought about before her mission took her to Earth.  Ships just worked, or they did not work.  Now, however thanks to a exhausting several days of training with Slip in which the cyan haired girl never stopped blathering on about all the inane wonders of the ship, Ichigo couldn't help but think of some of the things Slip had talked about.

'I am not myself any-longer.' Ichigo thought to herself and she watched the last of the slipstream energy disperse in a blue swirl.  'My time on Earth has weakened my resolve.'

Outside the ship the Firbald Nebula hung in space like curls of red-maroon smoke.  Bubbling waves of it churned as it pulsed back and forth as though it were living.  It would have been a breathtaking site had it not held the ship that now blocked some of the Nebula from her view.

Ichigo leaned back in her chair and watched as the Phoenix slowly docked with Snow's ship.  Ichigo fought at the cold prickle that wanted to travel down her spine.  Only Changelings had ships like that and the sight of them normally meant death to those unfortunate enough to see them.

Even now, knowing that Snow was dead and only Goshu and Nail were on that ship, the sight of it evoked years of trained emotion.  Emotion that Ichigo didn't want but was unable to suppress.

Ichigo reached over and closed the iris of the window.  It circled closed and blocked her view of the universe outside the ship.

It had been a long trip for Ichigo, and she feared the worst was yet to come.  Ever since what she had come to call her total nervous break down, Roshi had been treating her totally differently.  Before she had wanted to kill him for being an ass.  Now she wanted to kill him for coddling her like she was some delicate little porcelain doll or something.  It infuriated her how he was suddenly being so extremely nice.

She stretched back and idly tapped in a few numbers on the stereo thing Roshi had given her.  Beethoven's 9th started to play.  Ichigo closed her eyes and listened to the melody of the symphony for several minutes before she got up to pace around her room.

Roshi had shut down the Gravity Room this morning and told everyone to go take a nap, or read a book, or just do something to relax.  Ichigo did not relax.  Relaxation before a battle was just not on her things to do list.

Ichigo sighed and flopped onto her bed.  "This is pointless.  How can anyone relax?  Stupid idiot!"  Ichigo continued trying to sound as much like Roshi as she could.  "Ok everyone, we've gained as much from training as we are going to, so for the next few days just relax."  Ichigo rubbed her face and spoke into her hands.  "I am going to go insane and it is all the jerk's fault."

Ichigo reached over and grabbed the letter she had found with the stereo Saturday morning after training with Max and Slip.

**_Ichigo,_**

**_(Hmm, normally letters start with the word dear, but I don't want you to take this the wrong way.)_**

**_Anyway, I hope you don't mind the fact I was in your cabin to drop this stuff off.  I am sorry about walking in on you and Kit yesterday, I just wanted to apologize and well, you know how that went._**

**_I realized yesterday just how dissimilar we truly are.  You come from a world I wish I could understand, but know I probably never will.  I hope to try to understand it as best as I can before we get to Saiya.  I only ask that you give me the chance._**

**_One thing that I do know is that you do not have nearly the art or music on Saiya as we do on Earth.  I had hoped to give this to you when we left Saiya as something to remember us by, but I think you might make better use of it now.  Since you enjoyed Beethoven so much that is what is in the stereo now.  Every song the man ever wrote played in several different styles and means.  I think you will enjoy it.  If you get sick of that the other box is a library of songs.  It includes almost every song from every era performed in just about every way it could be._**

Ichigo looked up at the rather small black box hooked to the stereo and shook her head.  Slip had informed her that the quantum memory core Roshi had used for all that data was worth almost as much as the entire Phoenix.  Slip seemed to think that Roshi had wasted a lot of his own inheritance on something Ichigo would never use.

'I wonder if Roshi knew what this gift of his would mean to me?  I have nothing to give in return.  At least, I have nothing to give at the moment.  I did not even ask for his help, and still have not asked for their assistance.'  Ichigo thought to herself.  'Such compassion is outside anything I would receive on Saiya.  Not even my father would be so willing to give with nothing to gain from it.'  Ichigo looked back at the letter.

**_Anyway, I know how much you probably think our conversation last night cost you.  I want you to know I am sorry for whatever pains my ignorance has caused.  I know you hold your pride and honor very highly and I just wanted to say that you have nothing to be ashamed of.  Most of your fears are caused by ignorance, prejudice, and malice you do not deserve.  When you came to Earth I had no choice but to remove your tail.  I have read my family's histories and I knew it was not something that would be much liked by any Saiyan, but at the time that was not my concern.  _**

**_Now however I truly am sorry that it plagues you so. If there were a way for us to get your tail back in the next few days before we landed on Saiya, you have to know we would do anything to do that._**

Ichigo clenched her teeth and sucked on her lip.  Slip had informed her of at least ten different ways she could have gotten her tail back.  None of which were aptly available on the ship. 'Just my fate I guess.'  Ichigo thought to herself as she recalled a conversation she had had with Kit.

**_In the end, all I can truly say to you on this matter is while you do not take credit for it; you saved me in our fight with Snow.  Even in the fight with Banana you did what you needed to stop them and save lives.  While you could not carry the full weight on your shoulders in any one moment, you carried more than your fair share of the weight._**

**_I guess in part I am writing this down because I do not think I could say these things to your face.  You have risked everything by trusting us.  I made a choice to do the things I am doing, you however were not given any options.  While Snow could have destroyed Earth and everything I know, I knew that in that event there would be a possibility of the Namekians wishing us back.  Even if they say they wouldn't, they probably would.  So in the end I was not risking nearly so much as you are._**

**_Now as we head to your home world I leave behind my friends and family.   But I know they will be safe.  You were forced to leave without any such hope.  I know when I get back Mariah, Niko, Carge, and others will be waiting for me.  You have no idea if any of your people are even alive.  You have shown more strength and resolve than I would ever care to know.  In the task you have been given you have held the burden and more.  Never doubt your convictions or your abilities Ichigo.  Anyone who doubts you is a fool._**

'No,' Ichigo thought to herself, 'not a fool, just a traditionalist.  Regardless of what you may believe or what exists on your world Roshi, I cannot ignore tradition.  The only thing that truly gives me any right to call myself Princess is tradition.  If tradition were that easy to sweep aside so too would I be swept to the wayside.'

**_The rest of this I had intended to give you to read after all this is said and done.  However, I think it would do you better to read it now._**

**_In closing I wanted to leave you with a poem I read once:_**

**_To what ends do we measure a hero?_**

**_Must he merely save lives?_**

**_Must he take on all foes?_**

**_Must he smile bravely in the face of death?_**

**_What makes a hero?_**

**_Is it the struggle over fate?_**

**_Is it the vanquished evil?_**

**_Is it simply a chance of destiny?_**

**_What calls a hero?_**

**_Could it be the cry of their heart?  
Could it be the passion of the battle?_**

**_Could it simply be the call of those they save?_**

****

**_I know not these things.  _**

****

**_What do I know?_**

**_I know that heroes are real._**

**_I know that heroes are only mortals._**

**_I know that heroes can fail._**

****

**_But I also know we need them._**

****

**_For a world without heroes would be terrible._**

**_With no one to save us._**

**_With no one to hear us._**

**_With no one to care for us._**

****

**_So I watch for my heroes and I wait for my heroes and I call for my heroes._**

****

**_And deep down, I hope to be someone's hero._**

**_Kit told me that you did not know if you believed in heroes.  Well I can tell you that I do.  I do and I have seen one in action.  Ichigo you may not wish to take credit for your actions but by choice or by fate you have changed lives and you will save your people whether they want it or not.  You have the heart of a hero and knowing you has made my life better._**

Ichigo stopped reading.  It did not matter how many times she read the letter she always stopped reading there.  She could not picture anyone on Saiya writing a letter such as this one and giving it to someone.  It was more than just a good luck note or a note one normally found on a gift.  It was in a way a pep talk.  Part of Ichigo was infuriated that Roshi would think that she needed a pep talk.  Part of her was abashed to realize that she had needed those words.  The rest of her was just confused as to why Roshi would send her such a thing.  Was there more to it than just the letter?

'I am normally fairly good at figuring people out.  Everyone wants something.  If I can surmise what they want I can understand what they want from me and why they are dealing with me.'  Ichigo thought to herself.  

"But the Jerk does not want anything!" She yelled at her ceiling.

Ichigo rolled her eyes.  "I am acting like a petulant child having a tantrum."  She said to herself as she rolled over onto her stomach and finished reading the letter.

**_Long after that stereo is broken and the music has stopped playing I hope you remember that.  You have stood as one against the storm and weathered the gale.  It was once said that only the greatest of people are chosen by fate to lead.  I have no doubt that when you do become queen your lead will be followed and they will follow you to greatness._**

**_Never forget that.  Never doubt._**

**_Son Roshi._**

The letter bothered Ichigo in a way she could not understand.  Every time she read it, the words chaffed at her mind, yet at the same time she found it to be exactly like Roshi to write something like that.  It bothered her, as she did not understand how he could claim to see something within her that she herself could not see.  

"Roshi calls me a leader, hmph, He could talk a sun into not shining if he so chose.  The only thing that keeps him from being a most dangerous man is he does not know his own cunning."

Ichigo crumpled the letter up into a ball for the hundredth or so time and tossed it into a corner.  She knew that before the day was up she would be carefully flattening it out again, but at the moment she didn't care.  "I should just rip the thing up and be done with it."  She told herself for what was probably also the hundredth or so time.

Ichigo rolled back onto her back and glared at the ceiling.  "I just do not understand him.  And the more I try the more confusing he gets."

Someplace in the back of her mind she knew that being so flustered over someone who was at most an ally and at least tool was rather un-princess like.  

Ichigo shook her head.  "I cannot believe I ever thought of Roshi as a tool to be used.  I do not think anyone could get him to do anything he did not want to do.  In his own way he is even more stubborn than I."

She bolted up into a sitting position.  "He is even more stubborn than I am!  Why had I missed this before?  Roshi does not back down from his fights he just takes different positions.  Even that letter is in a way trying to convince me that my people will follow me.  While he has not directly approached evacuating Saiya he is still subtly working on getting me to approve the plan."

Ichigo almost got up to go find Roshi and beat a concession out of him when she realized that it really wasn't up to him whether they used that plan or not.  Goshu would soon be onboard and then the real strategy sessions would begin.

Ichigo rolled out of bed and walked over to pick up the letter.  However, a faded red book caught her eye.  Ichigo frowned.  The book in question was one of Pan's diaries.  Ichigo had found it in the old house and discovered that it had never been used.  The once brilliant red leather cover had dulled to a pinkish-brown.  The blank pages were crisp and yellowed with aged.  But all in all, the book was in good shape.  

The sight of the book infuriated Ichigo.  She was mad at herself for stealing the thing.  'Whimsical stupidity,' She thought to herself.  Saiyans by nature didn't talk about their personal problems and they most certainly didn't write them down for anyone to find and read.

Yet at the same time, Ichigo understood just how valuable those journals and diaries must be to Roshi's family.  The wealth of history and knowledge preserved for anyone in the family to read.  

She had not realized until well after she had started reading them that She had been the first person outside the direct family to touch the old tomes.  That knowledge made the theft of the unused diary even more stinging.

Ichigo knew why she had taken it.  She just couldn't truly accept that she had.  Digging into other people's personal lives and then stealing from them was definitely not behavior she had been raised for.

Ichigo almost turned around to leave, but the fact remained that Roshi had requested she and ordered everyone else to relax until his father was on the ship.  With the noon meal only an hour away that meant the first real opportunity to do anything constructive would be after the meal.

Ichigo gave in and grabbed the diary.  "I have a lot to think about.  Perhaps this will help me sort my thoughts out."  She said to herself in an effort to convince herself that she was right to be doing what she was about to do.  "At least if I write about something other than Roshi I might get my mind off of his stupid letter for a few minutes."

Ichigo opened the diary, grabbed a pen and started to write.

_The Thirtieth Day of the Month of Valor._

_While I still ponder the wisdom of writing these thoughts down, I have claimed this unused diary as my own.  If anyone seeks to find himself or herself a very quick and painful death, they may continue to read.  These are my thoughts and they are for me alone._

Ichigo twirled the pen about her thumb for a few minutes while she gathered her thoughts.  Finally, she began to write.

_My father once said that fear was not the enemy.  Fear reminds us that we are truly alive and that the challenges we face are real.  He told me that only a leader who knew fear and had mastered it could truly judge the value of a choice._

_My father is a great man and I truly miss his words of wisdom in these troubled times.  Only now am I beginning to become aware of the quality of his character.  He always told me that I was more than a warrior; I was destined to be a leader._

_Warriors do not know fear.  They cannot know fear.  All my life I have struggled to be the best warrior I could be.  However, now I know fear.  _

_I wonder about my own abilities as a leader.  I am not ready for this.  Perhaps being aware that I am not ready is better than assuming I am, but at the same time it worries me.  I doubt my father still lives, but for my sake I hope he does.  I am not ready to lose him.  He is the foundation upon which I find my strength.  I did not realize how close we truly were until this trip, and I miss him terribly._

_I miss Saiya.  It seems odd to long for a place where I very well might meet my death, but Saiya is my home and nothing could ever change that and no one will ever take that from me._

_I miss the crisp mornings.  I miss the long nights and the longer days.  I miss my friends.  I wonder what Sakura will say when she sees me.  She always did lag behind me in ability, but now I have passed her up by leaps and bounds.  I wonder if she even still lives.  She wanted so badly to be in the military, to fight as a warrior proud and true.  She would not go down without a fight, but she would also throw herself into a hopeless battle just because it was a battle.  She is so impetuous, so incorrigible, so much like me.  If Blizzard has carried through with his threat to kill all above 10,000 than I hope she went down in a glorious fight._

_Ume as well is most likely dead.  I was never as close to her as I was to Sakura, but she was always there with her sharp tongue and implacable wit.  She should have been a scientist.  She is, no was so brilliant.  I was always so guarded around her.  It would have been interesting to watch her verbally spar with Slip.  But Ume like her mother and her grandmother before her was a warrior born.  She reached her majority two months before I left.  She was in the Second Royal Guards, First Company.  She would have been on the front lines when the Changelings attacked.  I doubt I will ever see her again._

_Ringo, however, is most likely still alive.  I've always pitied Ringo.  I do not truly know why I let myself.  Pity is so unbecoming of an emotion.  But what else is there for a young man with so much promise cut down so horribly.  My father gave him a metal for saving those children.  Pity no one could give him his eyes back.  Momo was working with him.  I've seen Roshi fight all of us while blindfolded and not get a scratch.  Pity we have relied on scouters for so long that we have forgotten our own senses. _

_Momo, my aunt, what can I say about Momo?  I wonder if the Namekians can teach their healing arts?  She would be thrilled to learn such a skill.  A healer of both body and soul and occasionally mind as well, she was my replacement mother.  She knows secrets about me no one should know.  I do hope she followed my advice.  If she has been killed I do not know whom I would turn to when this is all over._

_Fearing the inevitable is pointless, so I will move on.  It would be nice to have Roshi's ability to believe in the impossible all the time, but I do not so I will not linger._

_I have no idea what will be waiting for me once I get home.  I only know that I have been away far too long.  I miss it.  I miss the echo of my feet on the stonework halls in the Palace.    I miss the city and the gardens and the mountains beyond.  I miss the gales of the Tasaln plains and the snows of the northern wastes.  I miss the relentless need to prove myself and the few times I could escape it.  I miss the Royal Gardens and the weeping umbrast tree.  That garden was my sanctuary.  For the most part only the gardeners ventured into those gardens, there hidden within the vines and leaves of the umbrast I could be alone._

_It is rather odd.  I am the Princess and other than my father no one could or would dare to catch my ire.  Yet I had little or no true freedom.  Now even with my privacy being invaded on by the likes of Roshi and others, I have more time to myself than I know what to do with.  It feels odd.  I miss wanting desperately to be able to just get away from it all.  Now that I am away from it all I feel out of place._

_I even miss the feigned respect of some of the guards.  It gave me an edge, a hardness that I have lost._

_I have changed while on this mission and I am not sure if I like what I have become.  I think a large part of it is the way I have been treated while on Earth.  I have never known the level of respect that I have received from Roshi and his family.  However, it is not the type of respect I am owed by my position.  They treat me as an equal.  No one has ever treated me as an equal.  People either feared me because of my position, or they shunned me because of my nature._

_When I first met Roshi he beat me to the point of near-death.  Then almost as suddenly he went from being an insurmountable adversary that watched me like a hawk, to something else.  I still do not understand why he accepted me.  But he did.  I know I should have stood up to his father and him more when they first refused to treat me with any reverence.  But at the time everything was so surreal and they were my only hope so I had to accept their terms.  Now it is too late to regain what I have lost.___

Ichigo put the pen down for a few moments. 

_But what have I truly lost?  The saying that in time all things change holds true for people as well as it does for all other things.  Is it such a terrible thing to realize that I liked being an equal?  I worry for Ume and Sakura, but I was never their equal.  There was always that wall of what was proper and what was not that kept us apart.  Goshu and Roshi forced me to take down my walls.  I did not realize it at the time, but those walls of distrust had hampered me.  I have learned what it means to trust someone.  On Saiya I can order people to do things and they do them or they are severely punished.  But that is a totally different thing than trusting in someone to come through for you.  _

_I have to trust Roshi and his family.  They are all I have right now.  And I find I do trust them even if I cannot understand why they do the things that they do.  Why does Roshi treat me as an equal?  He knows full well that by tradition he could claim the thrown.  No one would stand in his way.  Yet he has never lorded that power over me.  He teases, and prods, and pushes me to accomplish more, but he doesn't lord over me. _

_I told him that he shamed me by his actions.  On Saiya being beaten so thoroughly would definitely be shameful, but he does not shame me.  I am ashamed not because I have been beaten, but because I doubt myself.  I do not understand how he can be so calm and so collected all the time.  I have only truly seen him angered a few times.  He holds himself to strict standards that are beyond me.  That is shameful._

_Roshi is a bane and a boon rolled into one.  His letter is so typical of him.  It reads just like those letters that I found in the various diaries and journals.  Yet it does not have the same intent._

_I have never been comfortable around men.  Perhaps it is just the way Saiya is or perhaps there is something else.  I have always had to prove myself just as capable as any man to do a task and many times been forced to push myself harder to do better in order to be acknowledged as capable.  Even now I get cold thinking about what Banana tried to do and why he tried it.  Ever since Suikan's death there have been rumors as to who would eventually "get the right" to claim me.  As if I were just something to possess.  _

_I catch the glances people like Tee and Boxers give me.  Those two are harmless as they are more afraid of me than they are of the Changelings, but it does not change the nature of the looks.  It angers me that most of my own people have only seen me as a way to produce a new heir and nothing more.  Such shallow desires pool in the hearts of many men._

_That first night on Earth I was so humiliated.  I did not know what to expect and then Roshi gave me that old gi so that I would not be so scandalously clad.  He seemed more embarrassed to have seen me in such a state than lecherous, as I would have expected.  Then he walked in on me, and just left.  _

_Roshi treated me with respect and honor as a person, not as an object or a disappointment.  I think besides my father and Meron he is the first male to ever do that.  Perhaps it has to do with the way his heart is set on that human girl.  _

_Love is such a wasted emotion.  It is a pure and valiant and true emotion but it is so wasted.  My father truly loved my mother and in her memory he has never remarried.  Many of my people view that as a failure on his part to do his duty, as his first duty to his people is to leave a strong heir.  His love has created much of my problems, but his love shows such honor and such strength._

_I can understand what my father saw in my mother.  What Roshi sees in that girl I cannot fathom.  But whatever caused him to treat me with such respect as a person and not as a thing or not even as the Princess, I am grateful to him for.  I just wish I understood what it is that makes him so different._

_Whatever makes him so has shown me a new side to myself.  A side that is not the Princess of all Saiyans, or the failure many think me to be, but the side that is simply Ichigo._

_Is it so wrong to have grown to like being simply Ichigo?___

Ichigo put the pen down again and massaged her fingers.  She was not used to writing large amounts and she found her hands were cramping.

"Ichigo, is something wrong?"  Max's voice suddenly sounded over a speaker.  "You're late for dinner."

Ichigo looked at the clock and was surprised to see that it was already 12:30.  A wave of hunger hit her and she realized just how hungry she was.

"I was lost in thought.  I will be there shortly."  She said back to the intercom.

Ichigo quickly capped the pen and then looked around for a place to stash the diary.  She finally decided to hide it behind a stack of towels in the private bath that was connected to her cabin.

Ichigo practically flew down the corridors to the ship's galley and dining area.

Since the ship was set up as a hospital and rescue ship at the moment the galley was built to seat about 400 people and feed many more than that.

It seemed slightly out of place to have only one table being used by such a small group of people.  It had been quite a shock to learn that the 30 or so Namekians they had taken aboard at Namek did not eat.

Ichigo stopped dead in her tracks.  "You ate without me?"  She gasped looking at the nearly empty food dishes.  The impropriety and injustice of it all hit her in the face like a bucket of ice water on a warm day.

Roshi sucked a large mouthful of noodles down before he turned to look at her.  "You know when meal time is.  Don't act like you would have waited for us.  Guess you will just have to fight me for this last little bowl of noodles." He said with a wink.

'Ohhhh, you think this is funny do you?  You just wait jerk I will get you back.  I do not know how yet, but I will get you back.'

"Now Roshi, what did we talk about earlier?"  Max said as she walked past Ichigo and into the actual kitchen area.

Roshi almost choked.  "Nothing, nothing at all.  I was just teasing you Ichigo.  Max always cooks twice as much as wee need anyway.  There is a lot left for you."

Ichigo glared at Roshi and then Max.  "There is definitely something going on here behind my back.  I want in on the joke."

"Oh just calm down."  Max said with a light air as she put down a huge platter of meatballs.  "Roshi was just joking that we should eat all the food and make you go without.  And I was just teasing him that that is no way to treat a lady."

Ichigo looked at Roshi to watch his reaction.  He was definitely pale in the face, but he was also holding his breath.  Whatever Max was saying was not the full truth.  "Lady is not word on Saiya.  From what I have seen of your culture I would not wish to be treated as one."  She replied threateningly.  'There has been something going on between those two almost the entire trip.  Max obviously knows something about Roshi that gives her some power over him.  I have got to figure out what it is.  He would be so much less flustering if I could get him to shut up more often.'

Max grabbed Ichigo around the shoulders in a show of informality that would never have been tolerated on Saiya and whispered in her ear.  "I know, that's why it is funny.  Roshi is so clueless and he gets flustered so easily when Slip, Kit and I start teasing him about nonsense."

Ichigo shrugged Max off of her and sat down.  "If you say so."

Goshu passed her a bowl of sauce for on her meatballs, "I've heard this has been a rather eventful trip.  Have you come to an agreement on a strategy for the liberation of Saiya?"

'Liberation?  Not evacuation?  At least Goshu shows tact.'  Ichigo shook her head.  "Not to be rude, but could I just eat now and talk later?  Once we are all done with the meal we may discuss the problems I have with Roshi's plan."

Goshu nodded his agreement.

"If you don't mind my asking, what's been bothering you?"  Roshi asked from the far end of the table where he sat.

Ichigo looked up sharply.  "What do you mean?  Nothing more or less than usual."

Roshi shook his head as he talked, "Ichigo don't give me that, you tend to suck on your lip when you are deep in thought.  Your lip is chapped and practically bleeding."

Ichigo licked her lip and tasted the slight coppery flavor of blood.  'Why does he always have to notice everything?'  Ichigo despaired.  "I am anxious to get home, that is all."  She replied.  'I cannot even get rid of one bad habit.  If I were home now, my father would be forcing me to use that nasty wretched herbal lip ointment again.  It takes weeks to get that taste out of my mouth.'  Ichigo thought both winsomely and disappointedly.

The rest of them seemed to sense her detachment and no further conversation was attempted until after all the dishes had been cleared.

Goshu spoke first.  "Roshi has filled me in fairly well on the conversation the two of you had last week.  I believe I understand the problem but I would like to ask if you have anything you would like to share."

Ichigo was certain her eyes were bugging out as she swallowed the bile back down.  Ichigo thought about how Roshi had threatened to turn the ship around.  'Does he want me to plead?' Ichigo thought suddenly. 'I will do no such thing.'  Ichigo did not know what to say, but she knew she could not just sit there and gape at them though. "I have much to add, but I do not know what you need to know so I do not know where to start."

Goshu looked surprised.  "Yes, I can see this is going to be a somber meeting."  He said more to himself than anyone else.  "Alright people, this will not do.  Either find some sprit or I'll have to find it myself.  I promise you that you will not enjoy my methods."

Max started laughing.  "Oh yes wise sensei.  Remember that time five years ago when you decided to play that prank on..."

"No, and neither do you."  Goshu said firmly.

Ichigo had been rather turned off when Max had been able to master the Kaio-ken in just a few days of meditation with Roshi.  Only then did they let it slip that Max had been one of Goshu's long-standing students.

Ichigo couldn't help but like the older woman.  She always had that glint of mischief in her eyes.  Yet at the same time she reminded her of Momo.  Max had an odd kind of motherly type sense about her, even when she was causing mischief.

Tee didn't know when to let a subject drop.  "Hey was that the time you held that exhibition match and..."  He trailed off after seeing the look Goshu was giving him.

Max had filled them all in on the story.  Supposedly Goshu had held an exhibition match in an effort to publicly shame a student who refused to heed his warnings.  In the end the student had not shown and Goshu was left holding a four-hour public exhibition for no reason.

The student, who Max never named had come back and told Goshu off.  Pointed out that public humiliation only works if the person accepts to be humiliated.

Given the way Goshu was glaring at Max, Ichigo surmised it was a sour spot with him.

"Ok, you made your point.  We still have a lot of work to do, however, and if you all are going to act as though you are dead, then we will all be dead."

Goshu looked around.  "Alright then, Slip has informed me that the Phoenix needs some work before she can actually use the skin cloak.  We have launched a few probes through the wormhole and will be getting data back from them shortly.  I suggest you all take the next few hours to meditate on why we are here.  We will worry about the strategy meeting tonight."

Ichigo watched as everyone dispersed.  Goshu grabbed Tee and Boxers and led them off, while Max went to clean the kitchen and Slip went to work on the ship.  Kit grabbed Roshi and the two of them walked off talking about something dealing with high school.  Ichigo didn't know what a high school was, but it obviously did not have anything to do with her.

The only other person left in the room was Nail.  He was about half the room away from her sitting a few meters in the air deep in meditation.

"How is it you can produce such a high power level without eating?"  She heard herself say.

Nail's eyes opened to slits.  "Why is it you have such hair?  It serves your body no purpose.  Questioning the way of the universe is seldom revealing for the universe guards its secrets well."

'Good question,' thought Ichigo, "I have no answer.  I will leave you to your meditation now."  She said before turning to leave.  'I wonder if Roshi is just the universe's cosmic puzzle which has do way to solve it.'

Roshi and Kit's voices echoed slightly down the hall and she could hear them long before she could see them.  Because of the nature of their mission, the Phoenix had been refurbished with panels that dampened ki.  It annoyed Ichigo to no end after having become accustomed to knowing were everyone around her was.  She couldn't quite pinpoint how far ahead of her Roshi and Kit were.

"Roshi I know how dangerous this is going to be.  You have told me about a billion times.  Just promise me this ok?"  Kit asked.

"Why?"  Roshi asked.  "You know as well as I do that I won't have any real control over keeping or breaking that promise."

"I know, but I have never seen you ever willingly break a promise.  Maybe it will give you that little bit more to fight for."

"Ok, fine then if it will make you happy."  Roshi started as Ichigo came around a corner, "I ah, promise to do whatever I can to come back for your sake and for Mariah's sake.  That good?"

"That will do."  Kit deadpanned.  

Ichigo stopped.  "What happened to the no looking back I can beat anything attitude the two of you had earlier?  You made that promise as though you do not believe."

"Well I... ah I don't like making a promise I don't know if I can keep or not.  I've already broken too many promises to Mariah and I really hate to break another."

Ichigo shook her head.  "Are you not the same Roshi that wrote that letter that had all the whens in it?  You never said if once Roshi.  Do not start doubting on me now."

Roshi nodded.  "Last Friday I told my father that this might have turned into a one way trip.  At the time I doubted your resolve.  Ichigo I carried the weight on Earth, but you will have that weight on Saiya.  Seeing you questioning me rather than yourself for once gives me a lot more hope than I had a few hours ago."  Roshi smiled at her and then turned.  "Come on Kit, let's go talk someplace else."  He said to Kit as he started to walk down the hall.

Ichigo glared at his back.  'Jerk!  You say something like that and then you just walk away?'

Ichigo walked back to her cabin thinking about how mad she was at Roshi.

When she got back she went directly to where she had hidden the diary and started to write again.

_Roshi has got to be the most confusing person I have ever met.  His words speak wisdom far beyond his years.  He has compassion that defies understanding.  He does not seem to want anything.  What kind of a man wants nothing?_

_I think my biggest problem with him is something that I would have never thought of had Slip not mentioned it.  Roshi has humility.  He is humble.  He is humble without being defeated.  I have never known a humble that could be so certain, so unflinching, so very Roshi._

_As much as he plagues my mind I will miss him.  I think I will even miss Slip.  I will definitely miss the watching Roshi tell her off.  I could have laughed myself to death at the face she gave him when he called her paranoid about the ship.  He said Vegeta would not take it easy on the ship, why should he?  It could handle it.  _

_Slip did not shut up until he shot a Kamahameha at her while Super Saiyan.  It bounced around the room for a few moments and then was mostly absorbed by the energy fields.  Nothing bad happened._

_Slip is a different type of person. She has a passion for her science that goes beyond that of most warriors' passion for battle.  No, I take that back it is her battle.  A battle for knowledge.  I can never forgive her for what she did to my tail.  It was vile and disgusting and barbaric, but it was Slip._

_She will stop at nothing to learn new things.  I have to at the very least admire her drive._

_As I sit here and think about my experience on this mission I know I have gained from it.  It has cost me dearly, but I have gained._

_Nighty comes to mind.  She saw me before the launch and demanded that her monster pony give her a ride.  She has such innocence about her, innocence that we would overlook or loose on Saiya._

_Earth has known pain and struggle and hardship and war, but they also know peace.  The knowledge of all these things is what creates the art that so enthralled me.  While we have never been mercenaries, we have always fought the wars of our allies.  Saiya has not known peace in generations.  We have no time for artists to paint or compose.  Those merchants who do such things receive little praise and no recognition._

_Roshi tells me that painters and musicians can be world famous on Earth.  They can even be glorified for their abilities._

_I cannot say that Earth is better off than Saiya because of this art, but I do know that there is immense power behind it.  This music that Roshi gave me for example is a treasure beyond words.  Never have I heard such variety and never have I heard such moving living sound.  I have never seen such beauty._

_Perhaps I see something that the average warrior does not.  That painting of my mother was my closest connection to her over the years.  I know every brush stroke, every line.  Perhaps I find value in similar things because of it.  But I doubt any Saiyan could listen to Beethoven and not be moved.  In our warrior nature we have forgotten things that would otherwise enrich our lives.  I will miss the richness of the life I was able to live for such a short time on Earth.  Roshi may never know the value of what he has given me, but I know I will cherish it._

_I will miss the acceptance I found there._

_I find myself torn.  Is it not odd to long to go home to a place that was always home but never accepted me, and leave behind a place where I was accepted but did not belong?_

_I think that is a question for another time.  When I get back home and see what and who is left to greet me._

_In any case I know Roshi was right.  I will have to lead once we are on Saiya.  I am not ready, but perhaps I will be able to take from what I have learned and meld the things that have changed me these past months and help my people._

_In two days my people will find either their salvation or their doom.  Roshi does not like making promises he cannot keep.  I believe in this endeavor we have all made a few vows that may be hard to keep._

_The difficulty of the task matters not.  We will not lose for we cannot lose.  Whatever happens after that is immaterial. _

Ichigo put the pen down.  After staring what she had written for several minutes she got up and grabbed the crumpled letter.

Ichigo carefully flattened it back up and folded it neatly.

When she finally hid the diary she had claimed as her own, the letter had been placed within as a bookmark.

_* * * * * * _

Ok all that took longer than I had expected

Had a bad week…

Anyway please go to my favorite authors and then read Josav's fic.  It is worth the read.

Want some in-depth info and discussion on my fic and fics in general?

  
Go to my forum at Smooster. proboards18 . com /index . cgi  ( I am sorry about the spaces… FF.net is being rude and it removes all links now.  Just type that in without the spaces and it will work.

Please Review.

Thanks

The Smooster


	47. The Words of Friends

Chapter 47

The Words of Friends

Tuesday July, 1 1:30 p.m.

"Now what's that scowl for?"  Roshi asked Kit.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about things."  Kit replied without changing the expression on her face.

"About?"

"About how much you've changed."

Roshi took a step back to rest his back against the bulkhead wall.  "What do you mean?  If this is about not making the promise the way you worded it, I've never liked making a promise I couldn't keep."

Kit shook her head.  "No, it isn't really that even though it is part of the change."

"What change?"

Kit started laughing.  "Ok, I take it back.  You have not changed that much.  You are still a clueless guy.  Don't ever change that.  There is something adorable about you being clueless."

"Right, well I'm going to go over there," Roshi said pointing down the hall, "and leave you to your delusional rambles."

Kit tried to slap him but he ducked out of the way.  "Roshi!"

"Too slow!" Roshi called after her as he slowly started to float down the hall.

"Would you stop being a dork and listen to me?" Kit yelled as she ran after him.

Roshi floated into one of the larger rooms, which had once had many beds for refugees in it.

Kit ran into the room after him and skidded to a stop.

"While the Phoenix is quite famous as far as space-going vessels go, this room is one of the little known treasures in it.  I thought you would want to see it.  I've actually spent some time this week looking for it, since no one would tell me which of the rooms it was."

The room in question was about 20 meters by 10 meters in size.  The room was completely empty.  Within the still rather tight confines of even a large ship like the Phoenix that was remarkable.  However, the most remarkable thing about it was the walls.  Names had been etched into the metal walls of the room.

"How many?"  Kit asked her jaw still slack from awe.  

"234,592."  Roshi replied. "Every single man, woman, and child that my Great-Great-Great Grandfather Yoshu helped pull off Vulpe.  The 29,000 or so that are right in this section," Roshi said as he walked over and pointed to a group of names that were slightly set aside, "were the ones that left on one of the three trips the Phoenix made."

Kit walked over to the wall and held her hand out as though she was afraid to touch it but wanted to get close to the names.  "But why? Why is this here?"

Roshi pointed to a name near the floor over by Kit's feet.  It read: _Lus was here._  "From what I have learned about it.  Lus was a little boy about five or so years old and he got crammed in here with a bunch of other people.  I guess his father was an artist and he had a laser etching tool, so the kid wrote his name there."

"Some of the others saw and followed suit as a mark of survival.  They wanted to leave their mark, to show that they had survived.  Well when Yoshu learned about it he encouraged them to all to sign their names in this room in memory."

Kit found a group of names and ran her fingers over them to clear some dust.  "This is my Great-great grandmother.  She was only an infant when the comet hit Vulpe.   Her older sisters and brothers pulled her and her twin brother off with them in the first group to leave.  Her older sister must have etched her name here."

Roshi sighed.  "Kit I know you try.  You try very hard to fit in with the rest of us, but I think there are times you avoid just being who you are.  I was really hoping that your parents would talk some sense into you on Namek and you would stay there with them."

Kit glared at him.  "Mighty big double standard you are holding there Roshi.  Tell me, why is it ok for your mother to let you go risk your life but it isn't ok for my parents?"

Roshi took the defensive.  "I never said that!"

"Yeah but you thought it.  Roshi you are my best friend I can read you like a book.  You found it horribly distasteful that my parents would leave just leave me and go to Namek after I ran off last week."

"Well yeah, I could never imagine my parents doing something like that."

Kit shook her head.  "Roshi first you say I try to fit in but I forget to be myself, but then you judge my parents for being who they are.  Look at this room Roshi.  Less than 500,000 people got off Vulpe after that comet hit.  Even now some five generations later most of my people are still wanderers.  Most of them never have a place to call home.  My parents met on Namek.  He was going one way, she another.  He ended up with one of her bags and returned it to her a few months later.  They hit it off and the rest is well you know the rest.  They don't have any claim to the Earth or anyplace else for that matter."  Kit paused to take a breath and gather her thoughts.  "I told my parents to leave without me.  There is more than you know to everything Roshi."

Roshi walked over and grasped Kit's shoulder.  "I'm sorry, I didn't lead you in here to lord over you or try to make you feel bad.  I just thought you would like to see the room.  You have so few things that actually tie you to your people... I thought this would be something that you would..."

"Oh stop rambling!  I know I have been a prude lately and I am sorry.  I don't like change, and things are changing so fast lately.  A month ago you would have gone along with that promise to come back to Earth for Mariah and you would have just done your best and seen what happened.  Now you are more... more mature I would say."  Kit walked along the wall and ran her fingers over more of the names.  "This room, and showing it to me is so like you Roshi.  You care about people and you try to do your best to make them happy.  But a month ago you didn't get involved when Rock was picking on Mariah and I until the last moment.  You worked so hard to maintain that image of a helpless klutz and to be as invisible as you could be."

Kit turned and looked back at him.  "What makes you who you are hasn't changed, and I hope it never does.  What has changed is how you handle yourself.  You are no longer afraid to be that great guy I've always known you to be.  And I know I need to back down about you and Mariah.  At first I thought it was sweet, and then destiny that the two of you would end up together, but so much has happened.  I still think that when we get back to Earth you can be all the hero Mariah could ever ask for, but right now you need to be Ichigo's hero.  I think it is the least you can do for her having gotten you to show off a bit of your true nature."

"Kit I..."

Kit smiled.  "Thanks, it is nice to know I can still get you dumbstruck from time to time.  I am your friend and I just want to be there for you when you need me.  I think as of late everyone has needed you so badly no one has asked you if you need anything.  So, do you need anything?  Can I help you with anything?"

Roshi smiled.  "Actually yes, see I sorta showed you this room so you could show it to Ichigo.  I know you are almost as bad as Mariah about accepting help and almost as bad at me when it comes to admitting you need help, but I can't help Ichigo or her people if she won't let me.  I was thinking that..."

"That if she hears my story in connection to the story of my people in a location like this room, she might more easily accept your plan to evacuate the people while you guys are fighting the Changelings?"

"Yeah that exactly."

Kit looked around.  "This room gives me the creeps.  There are ghosts in this ship.  But at the same time there is hope etched with these names.  So many died during those times.  But these people didn't let fate take them.  Their names are like a defiant scream that proclaims they will not be killed so easily.  I will show this to her if she lets me."

Roshi smiled.  "Thanks, and I Promise you that I will do everything I can to live through this battle.  Not only for Mariah, but you and all the other people I know.  AND!" Roshi said as he walked up to poke Kit in the stomach, "you are not going to set foot on Saiya, you are going to sit up here and direct the battle and go home if it turns ugly.  I don't understand why your parents left you but I know how close your family is.  I don't need to feel guilty in the afterlife for getting you killed."

Kit shook her head.  "Fine, since you won't drop the subject and you keep prying in it somewhat like some other person I know pries into things that are really not hers to know," Kit said referring to herself, "I will tell you the big secret.  Now, normally my people wait to announce things like this until it is a few more months along, but ah, well you see it is fairly traditional to wait about five years after the first set of kids so they have time to grow a bit before having the next group.  After Maiko died, my parents put off and put off, but no my mom is expecting again.  They have more important things to worry about besides a rebellious teenager that wants to play hero with you guys."

"Oh Kit, that's wonderful news!  And even more reason for you to not risk yourself too much.  Your younger siblings will need an older sister to look out for them."

Kit's ears turned bright red as she blushed.  "Fine then how about this deal?  You can't go get yourself killed, and I won't do anything too stupid."

"Deal."

* * * 

After leaving Kit in the room with all the names, Roshi went quickly back to the ships galley.  Max was still cleaning up from dinner and had already started to get stuff out for the evening meal.

"Hey, what's for food tonight?"  Roshi asked as he walked by her and grabbed a cooking tongs. 

Max looked up at him suspiciously as he started digging in one of the smaller refrigeration units.  "You just ate no more than half an hour ago, even you cannot possibly be hungry already."

Roshi closed the refrigerator after selecting a couple of steaks and then looked over at her.  "I'm not.  But I happened to notice Ichigo didn't eat much.  If she doesn't start eating she won't be able to fight and then we will have a disaster when we get to Saiya.  So I am going to force her to eat a couple of steaks."

Max leaned back on the sink she was standing at and laughed.  "Roshi, Roshi, Roshi, where did your mother go wrong?"

Roshi lit one of the broilers and put the steaks in it, he closed the lid before turning to look at Max again.  "Huh?"

"I presume you are taking the food to her and not her to the food?"

"Well yeah, she has rather sequestered herself into her cabin so I thought I would take the stuff to her."  He said as he started to chop some lettuce for a salad.

"Roshi you poor boy, girl's like candy and flowers.  I really don't think a few steaks are going to do the trick and if you try to force her to eat it then you lose all the appeal of the whole idea in the first place."

Roshi didn't even look at her.  "I'm not falling for it.  Look you people can make fun of me all you want and yeah your comments would be correct if I were say trying to romance Ichigo.  Ichigo cares about as much for romance as I care for rotten fish to be put in my bed."

Roshi walked back to the Broilers and flipped and seasoned the steaks before going back to the salad.  He started to pour Italian dressing with olive oil on the salad.

"Good gosh Roshi!" Max said as she rushed over to grab the oil dressing from him.  "Olive oil it meant to be lightly dribbled onto a salad not drizzled to the point of drenching.  Are you trying to feed the girl or make her fat?"

Roshi shrugged.  "She cooked back at Pan's place, she said she liked how olive oil tasted.  I just want her to eat it.  Besides, I doubt fat build up or clogged arteries are on the top ten list for things that might kill her right now."

Max looked sick.  "Gah, just get away!  I'll make the food for her.  Watching you cook is painful."

"But I..."

"Roshi you get out of my Galley this instant or I'll feed you nothing but couscous for the rest of the trip!"

Roshi shrugged.  "That isn't to bad when seasoned right."

Max was starting to lose her temper.  "Oh yeah, well then how about grits?  I don't know anyone who would willingly live on corn hash grits!"

Roshi shrugged, "I saw what was packed for provisions.  Grits was not on the list."

Max glared at him.  "Don't tempt me.  I could find a way to make it if I had to grind up a bulkhead to do it.  Or I could just show the girls the recording that Tee and Boxers were so kind to make and then not delete from the ship's computer."

"You... they... oh they are so going to die for this!"

Max grinned evilly, "Not if you get killed first.  Now get!  I'll call you back when it is done."

* * *

Ichigo had just finished putting the diary away when she sensed Roshi approaching her door.  She casually walked over and hit the button to open it before he got close enough to hit the chime.

Roshi's face could not suppress his surprise and for a moment he looked to Ichigo like a warrior that had just been caught in the middle of something he shouldn't have been doing.  "Is something up?"  She asked without moving aside so he could enter her cabin.

"Not really, but we need to talk."  Roshi said as he walked up to stand a meter or so away from her.  "Could be possibly talk in your cabin?"

Even though she had just gotten done writing about how much she was coming to trust Roshi, Ichigo still did not particularly like having people of any type in her private quarters, she never had.  The only reason she had allowed him to invade her space as much as he had when she was living at Pan's was that she knew she could not truly claim the space as her own.  "I would rather we went someplace else.  What do you need to talk about?"

"I don't know and that is why we need to talk."

Ichigo cocked her head to the side slightly and arched an eyebrow.  "You do not know what we will be talking about but you desire to talk?  You do realize that what you said makes no sense.  Talking for the sake of talking is pointless."

Roshi looked like he was at a loss for words, but quickly recovered himself.  "Here," he said as he tossed a small tube of something at her.  "We need to talk because you are practically gnawing a hole in your lip."

Ichigo realized with a start that she was biting her lip while he spoke.  She stopped and then looked at what he had tossed her.  "Lip balm?"

"You need it.  So would you like to tell me what's been bothering you this week?"

Ichigo ground her teeth for a moment before she waved him into her room.  "Fine, I do not understand why you care, but since I doubt you will just go away if I say no."

Roshi smiled, "good, I also brought you some extra food.  I saw you didn't eat much at the noon meal, and all things considered if you are not eating you will not be in the best of shape for fighting Changelings."

'How dare you harangue me?'  She thought for a moment as she glared at him.

Roshi casually sat down in the chair at her desk and swiveled around to face her.  "I know you hate it when I pressure you, but you are eating a hole in your lip and then not eating during meals.  Obviously something is worrying you and I hate it when I see any of my friends troubled in such a manner."

If Ichigo had not already been starting to sit down on her bed she probably would have fallen as her knees suddenly went weak.  "You think of me as a... friend?"

Roshi shrugged, "Yes, I mean you started out an adversary, but now I guess, yeah, friend is about the only way to describe you.  You are a lot more then just an acquaintance you know.  Why, don't you think of me as a friend?"

The question was vexing for Ichigo.  "I do not know.  I... I guess you are a friend, why you are a friend is still puzzling to me but I can freely call you a friend."

Roshi cocked an eyebrow at her and scratched his head as though he were confused.  "Well good.  Then were friends.  Now here eat this.  I don't want you getting sick from not eating."

* * *

Roshi handed her the capsule Max had put the food into and she glared at it.  Roshi realized immediately the error he had made.  Ichigo did not respond to demands well.  "Please."

Ichigo's large blue-gray eyes looked up to peer into him.  "Why?"

"Why?  I would think it would be obvious, if you don't eat..."

"No!  Not that!  Not like that is possible anyhow with all the snack food you have shoved into any available nook and cranny in this room."  Ichigo said cutting him off.  "Why do you notice everything?  Why do you go out of your way to help me?  Why?  Just why to everything!"

Roshi didn't know how to reply.  "I don't know.  Just open that capsule and eat and maybe I will come up with something."

Ichigo glowered at him.  "And you say I am hard to get information out of.  Asking you questions is an effort in futility."  She said as she clicked the capsule and tossed it on the floor in front of her.

The smoke from the capsule slowly cleared.  The sight that greeted his eyes was one that almost stopped Roshi's heart.  Max had replaced the steak he had been cooking with a large plate of noodles and sauce with the steaks thin sliced and artfully arranged on top.  The salad had been replaced a large Caesar salad.  These things were fine.  What almost killed him were the two self lighting candles, the crystal wine decanter with what looked like red wine, the large slice of cake shaped like a heart and several napkins folded to look like roses.  To make matters worse there were matching place settings on the opposite side of the table from where Ichigo now sat on her bed.

A very large sweat drop formed and landed on the floor slightly before Roshi, who had fallen out of his chair.

Ichigo very calmly blinked a few times and then leaned over to look past the table and at him.  "Given your reaction to this I am guessing this is not a plan to seduce me?"

'Oh, nothing good can come of this.'  Roshi panicked, 'why isn't she trying to kill me now?  She seems to find this funny.  Oh this is bad.  This is very, very bad.'  Roshi thought while his mouth tried in vain to find words.  "Ka seduce you?"  He finally coughed out.

Ichigo gave him a wry grin.  "Let me guess, Max did the cooking?"

"Yes, she kicked me out of the galley."  Roshi said feeling very stupid for not checking to see what was in the capsule before he gave it to Ichigo.

"Oh, alright then."  Ichigo said before she started to eat.  "This is good.  Remind me to kill Max after we free Saiya."

Roshi stood up slowly. 'She's going to kill me.  I know it.  Mauled by a bear I told myself, but no!'  Roshi walked over to get closer to her.  "Ah, excuse he something I need to check."  He said as he reached out for her forehead.  

Ichigo shrunk back and slapped his hand away.  "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if you have a fever or are otherwise sick.  You are not acting like the Ichigo I know.  Are you sure you are alright?"

Ichigo laughed.  "Cannot talk now, eating."

'This is not Ichigo.  Ichigo is always so dead serious.'  Roshi was at a loss.  "And now you are just teasing me!  Don't tell me you were in on this?!?"

Ichigo held up a hand.  "Eating."

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo glanced up at him incredulously and smirked.  "You wanted me to eat, do not complain now."

Roshi could do nothing but wait for her to finish off not only the plate that had been prepared for her, but also the other one, both salads and one slice of cake.

He got the distinct impression that she was taking great enjoyment out of delaying the conversation as long as she possibly could.

"Are you done yet?"

Ichigo finally put the silverware down and hit the button that re-encapsulate the table.  "Yes, I think so.  You know you get quite impatient when you are not getting your way."

Roshi felt the need to lean closer to her.  "Are you sure you are Ichigo, cause you are not acting like the Ichigo I know."

She hit him.

Roshi fell back and slammed into the door.  "Ok, that's the Ichigo I know."

Ichigo glared at him and then started laughing.  "Are you calling me a bitch?  Cause if you are I might just have to kill you."

"Oh perish that thought.  What has gotten into you today?  When I saw what Max had done I half expected to be booted out your window and into the depths of space."

Ichigo smirked.  "Actually that was my first thought when I saw it.  But then I saw your face and you were completely white.  You were horrified, no you were terrified and it was all I could do to not burst out laughing."

"Oh, so um... what about the seduce you bit?  Where did you get that idea from?"

Ichigo rolled her eyes.  "Oh that?  The other night I found Slip and Max swooning over this horrid movie that seemed to be one endless scene of sappy mush followed by the other.  There was once scene when the woman in the movie was given a bunch of flowers and jewelry and she replied:  Oh!  You are trying to seduce me!"  Ichigo said the line from the movie with a breathy voice as she threw her head back and put one hand over her heart and the other to her forehead.  "That movie was insulting.  The women in it were bought by trinkets and sweet nothings."

Roshi started laughing.

Ichigo instantly went from the calm girl she had been acting like to the poised princess she normally was.  "What?  What is so funny?"

"You are."  Roshi held up his hands to stop her from speaking.  "Let me guess, Slip and Max were making comments like: I wouldn't mind being seduced by guys like him or something equally girly."

Ichigo blinked.  "Well yes, Max actually said..."

"It isn't important," Roshi cut her off, "but I know girls who's hearts have been bought and sold for trinkets and sweet nothings.  You on the other hand seem to care nothing for romance what so ever.  You are so completely different from the image you portrayed when you acted that line from the movie it was funny."

Ichigo scoffed, "to each their own, but I cannot picture anyone I know acting as despicable as the women from that movie.  Trinkets and sweet nothings are hardly romantic."

'Ok, if jewelry and flowers are not romantic what is?'  Roshi thought to himself.  Curiosity overrode common sense, "Ah, Ichigo, I know this is prying, but just what do you find romantic?"

Ichigo looked taken back for a few moments.  She sucked on her lip for a second and then looked back up.  "I do not know.  No one has ever tried, not as if it is important."

A sadness took hold in Roshi.  "That is really sad.  In many ways I pity you."

Ichigo was immediately defensive.  "Pity me?  I do not need or want your pity!"

"I know, I am sorry, but you talk as though you distain love, and romance means nothing.  Have you been that hurt in your past?  Are you that afraid to trust?  What about when you do get married?  With no love and no romance and nothing to build on are you just going to go threw with some arranged marriage out of duty?

More than just pain or anger burned in her eyes as she stood to glare at him.  "You have no..."  She closed her eyes and collected herself.  "This conversation is over, you are out of your place and I refuse to indulge you any longer.  Leave."

"Ichigo I..."

"You claim to be my friend and then you worm your way in so you can mock me and question things you know nothing about!"

'Yes indeed, Roshi you are an idiot.'  He told himself.  'Why don't I just shove a dagger into her heart and twist it while I am at it?  What was I thinking?  I knew she was sensitive to that topic.'  Roshi backed up.  "Ichigo I am your friend.  You can let me in.  I wasn't mocking you, I truly wasn't.  And yes I know nothing about such things, but help me learn."

"Get out!"

"No.  I won't leave.  You cannot keep running from you pain and you cannot keep forcing people away."

"You ingrate!  I am not running from anything!"

"Then tell me about it damn it!  I came here to see what was bothering you.  I thought I could help you but I can't help if you won't let me.  Please Ichigo put this aside for a moment.  I was wrong to question you on it.  But you are worrying yourself sick over something.  Please, tell me what is bothering you so I can help!"

"You!  You are bothering me. You are always bothering me!"

"Me?  Don't go skirting the issue by claim..."

"You! Shut up for once!  You drive me insane.  What do you want?  Seriously, every man I have ever known wants something.  The only thing you seem to want is answers to ridiculous questions.  You would not tell me earlier so perhaps you will now.  What do you want?  Why are you doing what you are doing? What do you get out of it?"

It took Roshi back a bit to be asked virtually the same question twice in one day.  "You think I want some sort of payment for helping you?"  Roshi asked in disbelief.

"Oh so you act offended by the thought!"  Ichigo yelled at him.  "Never mind that it is the logical way every other person in existence operates.  But you!  You do not seem to want anything!  Why are you doing this?  What is it you want?"

Roshi sat down.  "I... I don't know."

"What do you mean you do not know?"

"I mean I do not know.  Ichigo, I have everything.  I have a good family.  I have more money than I know what to do with.  I can make or buy anything I want.  What can someone who has everything want?  I guess I could tell you about my dreams and goals in life but that isn't anything you can really give me so it is not important."

Ichigo sat down on her bed and thought for a few minutes.  "There is a saying on your world, simple goodness of the heart.  Are you saying that you are risking your life for me out of the simple goodness of your heart?  You truly do not want anything in return?  I cannot accept that.  Everyone wants something in return for what they do.  Where is the return in this for you?  What do you get out of it?"

Roshi looked up at her.  "You are right.  There is something in this for me, but it isn't something I want from you.  It is something I want to prove to myself."

Ichigo looked at him inquisitively.  "What?"

"The answer to a dream unfulfilled."

Ichigo scowled.  "Stop talking like one of your poets and tell me what you mean."

Roshi put his head down on his hands and thought for a moment.  "You have read those journals and diaries.  You have read the dreams and the stories and the hopes of my ancestors.  I grew up to those stories.  I memorized every single one of them.  That poem I put in that letter I sent you was written by Gohan.  Videl framed it.  It hangs in my house.  It is the only part of those diaries I know of that isn't in the diaries or journals."

Roshi looked into her eyes as he spoke.  "I grew up to the stories of heroes.  I know you claim to not believe in them, but I do.  I have always wondered how I would act had I been there to fight Cell, or been on Namek when Frieza was there.  In a way, I have always wanted to be a hero.  I have always had this need to test myself against, and overcome adversity."

Ichigo blinked.  "You long for the battle."

Roshi waved the comment away with his hand.  "Yes, but no.  If I never had to fight anyone again I would be happy.  It isn't the fight or the battle that I want.  It is the... the knowledge that I made someone's life better.  That I did something important and worthy of notice."

Ichigo flopped backwards onto her bed and started to rub her temples.  "You are a contradiction.  You are an impossibility."  She mumbled. 

"Huh?"

Ichigo shot bolt upright and looked at him wide eyed.  "You speak of matters of the soul, of pride and honor and yet you do not seem to understand how important pride is.  You shun the glory that naturally comes with pride yet you hope to prove to yourself everything that involves pride!"

"You lost me there."

Ichigo reached up with both hands and grabbed fist-fulls of her own hair.  "You have got to be the most flustering person in the universe.  So you are coming to Saiya and helping me to prove to yourself that you are as good as your ancestors?  Or just that you are able?  How deep does this desire go?"

Roshi shook his head.  "Oh no, I will never be the equal of the likes of Goku and Gohan, or even Vegeta for that matter.  I don't want to be.  I just want to be able to look back at myself as an old man and say that I made a difference.  I made the world better."

Silence filled the room for several minutes.  "Amazing."  Ichigo suddenly said in awe.  "You are so humble, so selfless and I could not understand.  Now I do and it shames me once again.  You desire battle, and pride and everything that makes you a Saiyan, but you do not wish to better yourself by it or even better your family name, you wish to better everyone."  Ichigo looked up at him again.  "Is that all you want?  Surely there is something you want for yourself?"

Roshi wanted to ask why she thought it shamed her once again.  He was finding that no matter what he did she found a reason to be ashamed by it.  He shrugged, "I want to be left alone.  I hate how people like Ima only wish to use me to better themselves.  I am not a tool.  I guess in the long run I want to be able to just live my life without lies, without a veneer protecting me.  I want to be able to love someone and protect her from all the bad things in the world.  I don't want much, you know, just impossible dreams."

Ichigo had nothing to say to that.  She just sat and thought in contemplation for a while.

"What about you?  What do you want?"  Roshi asked.

Ichigo looked up at him and scoffed.  "At least what you want can mostly happen.  The things I want are truly impossible dreams.  Childish fantasies that can never and will never be."

Rosh felt a rush of sympathy for her.  "Ichigo, sometimes the impossible dreams are the only ones worth fighting for."

She looked up at him with sad eyes deep in thought.  "No amount of fighting will make Suikan come back.  No amount of fighting will make it as though Blizzard had never come.  No amount of fighting will ever truly convince the bigots that I am...  This is pointless."

Roshi stood up and took a step towards her.  "Ichigo, give me your hand."  He said as he reached out to her with his right hand.

Ichigo recoiled in shock as if she had been suddenly slapped.  "Roshi! I... no!"

Roshi took a bewildered step back.  "Ok, would you please stand up?  I have something I need to tell you."

Ichigo blanched. "Roshi, I... you do not understand."

"Obviously I don't."  Roshi said exasperatedly. "Fine then," he said as she walked over grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.  'She's stiff as a rock.  Why is she suddenly panicking over this?' 

"Ichigo, I want to be your friend, and I know you do not want to talk about the things that have hurt you in the past, but you need to.  You need to let them go.  Those things are impossible dreams, but you have other dreams.  Like freeing your people from the Changelings.  Like proving yourself to your people.  I don't understand your customs, so I don't understand why you are so sure they will reject you."

Roshi turned around and walked towards the door as he continued to speak.  "You talk about pride being so important.  You say that pride is proving to oneself that you are capable.  In that you are right, I have and I want to have more pride, but where is your pride?  Where is your belief in yourself?"

Ichigo looked like she was going to say something but he shushed her.  "Ichigo you have so much to be proud of.  You adapted fast and learned so much so fast.  You are an able fighter and you should not fear anyone's judgment on that."

"In the end, it does not matter what you prove to your people.  You need to prove it to yourself.  Ichigo you are a wonderful person.  I saw how you bonded instantly with Nighty.  You are kind and intelligent and as you just showed while you were eating you have a good sense of humor.  Look to the future and let the past go.  You cannot change it.  You cannot keep the pain in forever.  It will only consume you."

"Roshi you..."

"Perception is a matter of choice Ichigo.  Choose to prevail and you will.  Nothing will, nothing can stand in your way."

"Easy for you to say!"  Ichigo suddenly burst out, "you have already obtained the one fantastic dream that every Saiyan has.  If I am to believe Slip then that is just one more impossible dream."

Roshi grimaced.  "Don't.  Don't believe Slip for a second.  You have it in you.  I tell you honestly that I hope you never have to experience the pain that will make it happen.  You have already had far too much pain in your life, but you have it in you.  I know you do.  And even while I hope you never experience the pain, if you do, I hope I am there to witness it because you will shine.  Believe in yourself Ichigo.  The only things that hold you back are in here and in here."  

Ichigo had folded her arms over her chest so Roshi walked up and tapped her in the middle of the forehead and the middle of her arm, directly over her heart.  Ichigo couldn't help flinching back at the sudden contact.

"Ichigo you have to believe in yourself.  You have what it takes.  You can't be afraid to be yourself.  You are such a wonderful beautiful person to know.  I cannot grasp why you can be so afraid to be yourself."

"Beauty!"  Ichigo practically spat the word.  "No one truly cares about beauty."

Roshi just shook his head. 'Well if I tell her what I actually think will I live long enough to finish?'  Roshi thought as he collected his thoughts.

"Ok, maybe beauty is the wrong word.  Maybe poise is better.  You have it regardless of which word I use.  When you walk into a room people notice you.  You have presence.  Don't tell me that it is unimportant.  You have no idea how much Slip actually envies you because of it."

Ichigo opened her mouth to speak but he held up his hand again.

"You have poise and presence and more.  Ichigo when you smile.  When you truly smile like you were when you were making fun of me earlier there is power to it.  It is like the first tulip in the spring. There is a simple grace and delicate wonder to it.  Yet in all that there is more, because you know that it is just the first, you know that spring will complete the thaw and summer will come and the rest of the flowers will bloom to their full beauty.  I look at you when you smile and it almost takes my breath away.  I see the frightened Princess who is afraid to trust melt away and for a moment, for a infinitesimal moment I see you for who you are and the sight is marvelous to behold."

"You have it in you Ichigo.  Let yourself look forward not backward.  Put the pain behind you and smile at the promise of the future.  If you would only believe nothing would stand in your way."

Ichigo blinked tears out of her eyes.  "You... You...  I have to go."  She said as she suddenly pushed her way past him and ran out into the hall.

Roshi was left standing alone in her cabin.  He looked around confused by her sudden departure.  "What did I do this time?"  He wondered aloud.

* * *

Wow, I seem to be continuing to put back the planning meeting… ;)

Don't worry It will be in the next chapter.. (I hope)

Anyway  Thanks for reading and please review.  
  
Oh and come to my forum and add your thoughts to the pool of wonderful people that are already there smooster .proboards18 . com/index. cgi = once again since FF.net no longer allows for links.. just copy paste and delete the spaces... or go to my profile.  
  
Thanks

The Smooster


	48. Preparations for Battle

Chapter 48

Preparations for Battle

Tuesday July 1, 2:30 p.m.

Kit was busy exploring the ship.  After Roshi had left she had walked around the room and found each of her relatives who had survived.  Over half of them had traveled to safety aboard the Phoenix.  Kit had always hated space travel, and even on a ship as large as the Phoenix, she was less than comfortable.  So it was something of a revelation to think about all the people that had once been crammed into the small compartments. 

She had walked into the next and found the beds made up and capsules of food waiting for the potential Saiyan refugees.  Considering what she has seen and heard of Ichigo's insistence that no one was going to be evacuated, these preparations must have been done without her knowing.  It seemed like classic Roshi, however, Kit doubted Roshi even knew the extent of the work done.  'Hidden heroes all,' Kit had thought as she exited the room.

Kit marveled at how Roshi's family could do so much unseen and unknown with little thought toward reward.  However, that secrecy was also a major annoyance to her as it was near impossible to get any of them to actually open up about what they were doing or why they did what they did.  It had always been her biggest problem with Roshi.

It was also rather disconcerting to her to realize that Roshi seemed to be trusting Ichigo more than he trusted his normal friends.  He might even trust her more than Mariah or even Kit herself.

Kit thought best when she was running.  The long corridors and passageways past the various compartments and holds gave her plenty of room to quickly glide a long and still watch for any new signs of her people or their time aboard the vessel.

While the Phoenix itself had been built as something of a super huge pleasure yacht for Bulma, the modular design had allowed it to be used for many things.  The current rescue ship part had originally been built as a freight and cargo vessel.  According to Roshi, when the call for help from Vulpe had arrived, it was quickly overhauled to be made useful as a hospital and supply ship for the evacuation.

As the extent of the radiation brought by the comet became more apparent, it latter ended up hauling a good number of the sickest and most needy away from Vulpe.

Sadly, even though the vessel was large enough to transport many thousand more than it had, it did not have the ability to support that much life on board.  In hall there were plaques hanging on every door.  In that hallway she found every door welded shut, never to be opened again.  The plaques listed the names of the lost, and the number of unnamed.  They stood as a stark reminder that even when one does everything they can, it is sometimes not enough.

The last trip away from the planet some 16,000 people had crammed aboard the ship.  The ship's air plant had not been up to the challenge and almost every person on that lowest deck had ended up slowly asphyxiating.

Kit had been to the cemetery where those who had simply died, and those who had been on that fateful deck had been interred.  It was a solemn place around which a memorial to all those who never made it off Vulpe had also been built. 

Simply being on the Phoenix had at first been a thrill for Kit.  The ship had a sort of mythos about it.  Even with all those who did not make it, the term Phoenix had come to mean something special to her people.

As the trip advanced closer to Saiya however, Kit was slowly gaining a sense of awe and respect she realized she should have always had for her ancestors and Roshi's family.  It perturbed her some to realize that part of the silence, part of the secrets kept by Roshi and his family was to remember those they could not help, and protect the dignity of those they had.

Kit had found a mural painted by a refugee up in one of the top decks.  It was the artist's depiction of the comet as it crashed through the purple sky of Vulpe.  The mural showed the first attempts to contain the spreading destruction and the later landing of the Phoenix and the rescue attempts on a rapidly freezing and dieing planet.  Vulpe's sun had been up in the first area of the mural.  There was no mistaking that the color of the sky was what it should have been.

'I never knew our sky was purple.' Kit thought.  She had spent several years of her life on Vulpe after her sister had died and before her family moved back to Earth.  A small group of specialists were working there constantly to in essence terraform the world back to what it had been.  Even with the blue sun shining down, the sky had always been a dark dead gray.

Kit had thought of many things as she ran and was now scouting a new hallway for more signs of her people's past.   She was starting to look back at the hall she had just ran through as she rounded a corner and ran into Ichigo who was rapidly walking the opposite direction while massaging her temples and staring at the floor. 

Kit jumped and spun out of the way and just barely missed having a head on collision with the Saiyan girl.  Even with her fast reflexes she still slammed into Ichigo's shoulder and was thrown into a wall by the impact.  Ichigo looked up at the last second but didn't even start to slow down until Kit had already slammed into the wall her.

"Ow."  Kit said as she tried to rub her throbbing head and smashed ear with a sprained wrist. 

"Where did you come from and how did you jump like that?"  Ichigo blurted accusingly before holding up her hand.  "Wait, I mean, you reacted before I even realized you were there.  You have remarkably fast reflexes."  She said as she kneeled down to look into Kit's eyes.  "Talk to me so I know you do not have a concussion.  Here, follow my finger."  She said as she slowly waved a finger in front of Kit's eyes.

Kit winced and blinked a few times.  "My reflexes were obviously not good enough.  Now help me up, I am not hurt too badly."  Kit replied as she started to get up and then wobbly sat back down again.  

Ichigo looked worried as she reached over to clamp Kit's head her hands so she could look into Kit's eyes.  "Well your eyes are not dilated like they would be if you had a concussion.  However, that one ear is bruised.  I can see the bruise forming through your fur already. I bet your balance is off from the impact."  

Kit glared at Ichigo for telling her what she already knew.  "Why is it that I can never sneak up on Roshi cause he can sense me coming, and you can practically mow over me without knowing I am there?"

Ichigo pulled a hand back from where she had placed it on Kit's shoulder and glared at her.  "Perhaps because unlike Roshi, I do not think I am omniscient, nor do I act like it."

Kit started laughing.  "Roshi doesn't think he is omniscient.  He is actually quite the clueless goof.  Let me guess, the rubbing of the temples was because of Roshi?"

Ichigo grimaced.  "Yes, he is so flustering.  You are his friend; you have known him for years correct?  Have you ever wanted to just wring his neck?"

Kit's ears perked up a then folded down as she started laughing.  Laughing hurt, and folding over her ear hurt worse.  "Yes, thousands of times.  It is part of his charm I think.  So what did he do or tell you that has you so flustered you didn't sense me coming down the halls."

Ichigo glared at her.  "This ship blocks ki, besides do you always listen to everything you hear, or take in everything you see?  Just because I can sense ki does not mean anything was registering."  Ichigo stopped talking and looked around.  "Oh and before you say anything, Roshi probably does not have to actively be trying to sense things out with his ki.  It is probably second nature to him.  I, on the other hand, am fairly new at the skill."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.  Roshi nearly went bald trying to teach me how to do even the simplest of things with ki."

Ichigo shook her head.  "That would never happen, only those with dessert blood go bald and Roshi clearly does not have desert blood."

"It's just a saying.  I wasn't being literal."

"Oh, well regardless, he will never go bald."

Kit couldn't help but to reach up and rub her own temples.  "Ai yi aye!" She said to herself.

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at her.

"It is a wonder Roshi hasn't strangled you."  Kit replied to answer the unspoken question.

"What is that supposed to mean?"  Ichigo demanded as she stood up to glare down at Kit.

Kit slowly rose to her feet to look down at Ichigo.  Even if as their impact had proven, Ichigo was harder than a titanium wall, being able to look down and into her eyes felt like it gave Kit just a little bit of equalizing power.

The immediate response by Ichigo was so fast it had to be subconscious.  Her hands were already on her hips, but now her fingers clenched tighter.  Her stance became more ridged as she quickly set her feet slightly further apart.  Her shoulders became stiff and she even arced her back and stuck out her breasts some more as her always nearly perfect posture became even more ramrod straight. 

Kit realized that she was suddenly in a war of body language with a Saiyan Princess who she could only hope to beat in a verbal spat.  The thought was ludicrous and she started laughing.  Even though it hurt she couldn't help and was soon bent over laughing her head off.

Ichigo just stood there and looked at her like she was plum crazy.  "Why are you always laughing for no reason?  Seems like any time I talk to you, you start laughing and then refuse to tell me why you were laughing.  You are almost as confusing as Roshi is."

Kit stopped laughing and looked at Ichigo.  She had relaxed back into what was essentially her normal posture.

'I wonder.' Kit thought as she stood up again and then looked down her nose at Ichigo.

Ichigo did it again.

This time however when Kit started laughing Ichigo turned and started walking away.  "Forget it.  It is not worth the frustration of attempting to get a straight answer.  You will no doubt be just as confusing as Roshi just was."

Kit forced herself to stop laughing.  "Ichigo please come back.  I'll try to explain why I was laughing.  Besides, I promised Roshi I would show you something, and I can't very well do that if you are not speaking with me."

Ichigo stopped and slowly turned.  "I am tired of people saying they will explain only to confuse me more.  If you even attempt to explain your laughing at me by claiming that I am humorous or funny, I think I will be forced to kill you and make slippers out of your pelt."

"That's monstrous!  How can you even say that?!?"  Kit burst out as she suddenly had images of Ichigo doing just that.

Now, Ichigo was laughing.  "That was cruel I admit, but do you honestly think that I have use for anything as useless as slippers?"

Kit tried to picture Ichigo wearing a pair of slippers.  An image of her sitting in a big over stuffed chair sipping hot cocoa before a roaring fire came to mind.  Soon, she was laughing with Ichigo.

"Roshi said you had a dangerous sense of humor when you cared to use it.  I will have to remember that in the future."

Ichigo just smirked.  "While I do want to know why you seem to find me so hilarious, I would much prefer your insight on how I should deal with Roshi."

Kit waved her hand at the idea.  "Deal with Roshi?  Why on Earth would you have to deal with Roshi?  Just what did he tell you that has you so uppity?"

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow at her.  "We are a long way from Earth."

Kit threw her head back and sighed.  "It is a figure of speech!  It means there shouldn't be a reason or something like that.  Don't Saiyans have any figures of speech?  Little sayings?"

Ichigo rolled her eyes.  "Yes, but all of ours are about things that make sense.  Human sayings pop up all the time and are random."

"Not if you know them!  They make perfect sense!"

Ichigo's mouth dropped open as if she was suddenly realizing something for the first time.  "You are not human." 

"Well duh!"  Kit replied exasperatedly, "you couldn't very much make a decent pair of slippers from skinning a Human now could you?"

Ichigo actually had to brace herself against the wall.  "I guess I deserved that comment.  My statement must seem quite odd to you; however, it seemed the only obvious thing to say in the moment.  I just realized that most of my problems with Roshi and his family come from feeling like I am such an outsider.  I was never prepared for the culture shock that I have experienced and even after living on the Earth for the past few months if you count the time spent training, I often feel out of place.  I at least have some common grounds with Roshi as he is a Saiyan in spirit if not in mind or custom."

Kit finished the line of thought for her.  "Where as I am totally alien to not only Roshi and his kin, but the rest of the human culture I have mostly grown up in."  Kit shook her head.  "Don't worry so much about feeling like and outsider when dealing with Roshi.  I have known him for years and I am just starting to understand how he thinks.  His family is an enigma.  In many ways they exist outside the rules.  Now, as far as whether I am myself an outsider?  Yeah, there are many things that I am not and cannot be part of because of who I am.  But, there are also things that I have that they are not part of.  What I have to show you will probably help me explain better than anything else can.  Now, what's the problem you have with Roshi?"

Ichigo gave her a hard stare.  "The same problem you have with Roshi."

"Huh?  The only problem I have with Roshi is... well it has nothing to do with this."

Ichigo shook her head.  "Okay, perhaps it is not a problem but you noticed it.  You said yourself that you cannot sneak up on him.  He notices you coming.  Roshi perceives things.  Just how much he does see and remember is almost frightening."

"Oh, well that's just Roshi.  But tell me what he did that has you so wound up."

"He brought me food."

Alarm bells started going off in Kit's head.  Bringing any Saiyan food for any reason was a sure fire way to get prompt attention.  Kit was couldn't think of the number of times she had gotten Roshi to do things just by dragging him to a buffet or restaurant.

"He brought you food?"

"Well, it is more then that.  I have been thinking about things.  A lot of things," She added as if in hindsight.  "I was so deep in thought today at the noon meal, that I did not eat as much as normal.  Roshi noticed and had Max cook some extra food for me."  Ichigo smiled in a way that sent shivers down Kit's spine.  It was the same way Mariah smiled whenever Roshi did the slightest thoughtful thing for _her!_

"He then got me to talk about some of my worries.  I do not know how to take what he told me."

Kit nodded knowingly.  "Ok, whatever he said was probably about Saiya and none of my business so I won't pry."  Kit was hoping that Ichigo was like Roshi and telling her that she wasn't going to pry would loosen the Saiyan Princess's lips so she would tell Kit everything.  "But there are two things you need to remember about Roshi."

She held up one finger.  "Thing one:  Roshi is a clueless goof.  He really doesn't know what he is talking about most of the time."

Ichigo seemed to tense up and her face started to flush with anger so Kit hurried to hold up her second finger.  "But secondly:  You saw Roshi bulking to promise to stay alive so he can go home to Mariah and his other friends.  No one is perfect, and everyone lies, but Roshi tries not to.  If he told you something directly, then he truly did believe it to be true."

Ichigo had nothing to say but her face relaxed.

"Oh, and I should probably mention this too.  The third thing about Roshi is that he is normally so stubborn that anything he believes to be true ends up being true in the end.  So even if he doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about, don't second guess whatever it is he told you."

Kit stopped and waited for Ichigo to fill her in on whatever it was Roshi had said.

Ichigo just sucked on her lip for a moment before abruptly raising her hand to her mouth and touching her lip.  She turned to look at Kit.  "You have cleared a few things up and given me much more to think about.  You said you had something to show me?"

Kit felt her shoulders sag.  It would do her no good to pry now.  "Yeah, follow me."

* * *

5:00

Roshi arrived on time, which is to say he was late for the planning meeting.  He was however, not the last person to get there.  He was also the only one in room that seemed alive.

"What's with the long faces?  The news can't be that bad.  Can it?"  He asked as he looked around the room.

They were holding the meeting in the bridge lounge.  Once used as a small show room and meeting place to discuss the sale of the various cargoes on board, it had served as a nerve center during the evacuation of Vulpe.  There were even still some maps of Vulpe showing on a few of the old screens.

Everyone with the exception of Kit, Ichigo, and the healers they had picked up at Namek were present in the room, but only his father looked up at him.  "Things could be better.  The data from the probes is back, and it is looking fairly grim."

Nail spoke up, "your father has always had a talent for understatement.  Show him the map."  He said as he pointed to a flimsy sheet of paper Slip was holding.

Roshi realized he had never in his life seen Slip so utterly calm.  She was horrified by whatever was on that paper and it had shocked her into a state of white-faced calm.

"Where are Ichigo and Kit?"  Roshi asked as he took the Paper from Slip.

"We don't know."  Goshu said.  "They will be here shortly not doubt."

Roshi nodded and looked down at the paper.  He felt his blood freeze.

**_Preliminary Probe Data:_**

**_Four Changelings detected on Planet Saiya._**

**_234,212 other humanoids detected.  Computer analysis of Ki patterns indicates that approximately 5,000 to 20,000 of these may be Saiyan plus or minus 5,000._**

It then showed a surface scan of the planet indicating were each of the Changelings was and were the concentrations of other life forms were.

Roshi looked up.  "We cannot possibly show this to Ichigo."

Goshu looked at him sharply.  "And what can we do?  Lie to the girl?  She deserves to know the truth Roshi.  Hiding it from her serves no purpose."

"What about keeping her sane?"  Roshi replied incredulously.  "If she sees this after everything else that has happened..." Roshi trailed off because the rest of what he said did not need to be spoken.  

Boxers held up a hand.  "I want to know if this changes our plans any.  I mean, we sorta expected a Saiyan Army to be fighting with us in this battle."

Tee spoke up, "I don't mean to sound coward here, but the sensible thing would be to turn around.  The map shows it clear as day.  The remaining Saiyans are huddled in small areas.  It is as though they are confined.  Even if we did land, how many of them would be alive by the time we got there to rescue them?"

"Tee!"  Roshi gasped.  "You can't be serious.  How can we turn around now?"

"Because the odds are stacked."  Slip said suddenly.  "I know I wasn't part of the main fight on Earth but I have heard the tales.  Roshi, you needed everyone's help to finish off Snow.  What pipe dream are you trying to sell even thinking about taking on four of them at once?"

"What a bunch of yellow bellied cowards we've all suddenly turned into."  Max suddenly spoke up to clear the silence that had descended after Slip's question.

"I couldn't have said it better Maxine."  Goshu said as he walked over to stand behind Roshi.  "We are not about to run away.  While that might be prudent and it might be wise, letting the Changelings win without a fight would be the same as saying we agreed with them.  They must be stopped.  No matter the cost."

Nail shook his head and smirked the way Namekians always did when they found something humorous.  "I have not the love of battle that pumps within the savage places of your hearts, however, I would not be doing my brother justice if I let his sacrifice come to such naught."

"Then what's the plan?"  Boxers asked humbly.

"When Ichigo gets here we can discuss evacuation.  There are enough encapsulated miniships onboard for all 200 million or so people Ichigo said were on Saiya.  Since we don't need them all, we won't have to worry about an extended evacuation.  However, I think evacuating the planet is the only reasonable coarse of action."  Goshu stated as he walked over to a large display screen.  "We do not truly need to defeat the Changelings.  We can still trick them into believing that we are only Snow returning from battle.  Once on the planet we can rescue as many people as time allows and then retreat before the Changelings become too involved."

"Once in space again we can use the gravimetric bomb Boxer's father built to collapse the wormhole and seal the Changelings in their section of the Universe."

"Sounds like a plan," Roshi replied, "but how do we brake the news to Ichigo?"

"Break what news to me?"  Ichigo asked as she came into the room with Kit.  Kit was laughing about something, and even Ichigo looked like she was in a better mood than Roshi had seen her in a long time.  Seeing her smiling there unaware of the horror he knew she had to know sent ice though his heart.  'Oh, Ichigo, why did you have to finally find a sliver of joy now?'  Roshi thought to himself as he numbly started to walk over to her.

"This news."

Ichigo took the flimsy from him and looked down at it.  She shook the paper once as if she could shake the ink right out of it.  Roshi watched as her eyes scanned the page several times.  He expected anger, or denial, or tears.  He expected some reaction from her.  Instead she just blinked a few times and then handed the paper to Kit.

In that moment her walls went back up.  In that moment the part of Ichigo that Roshi had tried so hard to bring to the surface hid back in the depths of her soul.  Roshi suddenly felt as though he had been cut off.  Cut off from what he didn't know, but he felt Ichigo retreat into herself again, and he feared what was happening.

"When do we land?"  Ichigo asked calmly.

"Ichigo we need..." Roshi started to say but she cut him off.

Ichigo grabbed the paper back from Kit so fast it made a snapping noise as it was wrenched through the air.  "No!  Do not!"  Ichigo said glaring at him in a display of utter calm yet forceful poise.  "Do not even attempt to say any of your words.  You speak liquid honey Roshi, but your words cannot fix this!"  She said as she held the paper up in front of his face.

"Ichigo."  Roshi tried again. 

"No.  The time for words is past.  There are still a few of my people left and I will not rest until they are free.  When do we land?"  She said looking directly at Goshu.

"As soon as you tell us where you want to go.  We can land."  Goshu replied calmly.

Ichigo smiled.  'She's lost it.  That's the only explanation.  She's gone.  Only someone who is completely insane could possibly be smiling now.'  Roshi thought as his stomach did it's best to tie itself into knots.

"I want one group to land here.  This is the Capitol City.  The month of Strength just started.  It will be cold yet.  If this is what it looks like it is then the largest group of survivors will be in the catacombs.  What time is it?"

"Ten after five, why?"  Slip commented from where she stood looking at a similar map.

Ichigo looked up at her.  "Not here you idiot, on Saiya.  Saiya has a thirty-six hour day.  If we end up fighting in Hayashi during the night it will get well into dangerously low temperatures."

"According to this the sun just rose there."  Slip replied.  "But shouldn't it be near summer now?"

Ichigo glared at her.  "Are you so clueless as to think all planets follow the same seasons as your Earth?  While our year ends up being nearly the same length as yours, we have only eight months.  Conviction, Honor, Valor, Strength, Pride, Glory, Battle, and Remembrance.  In the north, the months of Valor, Strength and Pride are winter months."

"As I was saying before Slip started asking inane questions, the Catacombs are not real catacombs but a huge network of tunnels normally used for training purposes.  I told my aunt to hide there if things lead to the worst.  I didn't expect her to need to, but it would look as though many others have followed her into hiding."

Ichigo looked at the map again.  "The rest of you need to go down here into this southern agricultural region.  It would look like they have imprisoned a good portion of the people they have captured down there.  Possibly because it is easier to feed them there, or just because that is where they were from.  It does not matter."

"And what do we do once we have freed these people?  Do you want them transported off the planet?"  Goshu asked.

Ichigo glared at Roshi for several seconds.  "If they are sick, feeble, or young children, then yes.  I expect everyone else will want to help fight."

"That basically sums things up.  So who do you want where?"  Goshu asked.

Ichigo glanced at the map.  "All four of the Changelings are in a volcanic region in the North.  They are not far from the Capitol of Hayashi.  I will go to Hayashi.  I want Roshi, Boxers and Tee with me.  We will take Snow's old ship.  From what I was able to learn from Banana and then her, I am guessing she meant to capture rather than kill me.  It will only seem logical that they would take me directly back to the Capitol."

"The rest of you go free those down South."

"Ok, sounds good."

"Then now starts the battle to free Saiya."  Ichigo deadpanned as she turned to head for the docked Changeling ship.

"Wait just one second!"  Roshi blurted.  "I walked by the galley on the way here.  I now Max has something cooking.  I think we had better all eat first."  He said as he looked at Ichigo.

Ichigo glared back at him.  "If we must."

Ichigo lead them without word to the galley.  No one spoke a word that evening around the table.  Each and every one of the Saiyans going to battle ate more than they normally did.  Even Ichigo, Roshi made sure to watch that.  They each prepared their minds as they prepared their bodies.  

In the battle to come, Roshi knew that they would face death at ever turn.  He knew that one way or another the blood of many of the soldiers in the Changeling's Army would be on his hands.  He knew he would live with that because it meant the possibility of life for an innocent people.  Roshi could not help but fear that they had already lost the battle of the mind.  Boxers, Tee, and Slip did not go willingly into this battle.  Even worse was how distant Ichigo seemed.  She was cold, emotionless, and stoic.  

More than anything else, Roshi feared she was already dead.  The news had killed her.  Her body and mind were going through the motions, but her soul was gone.

* * *

Up on Kaioshin's planet, Goku looked down.

"So they are going to fight?"  The Kaioshin asked quietly.

"Yep, the battle will start soon."  Goku said sounding just a bit too anxious.

"You know you are not to help them in any way."  Kaioshin warned.

"I know.  They won't need my help.  At least not on Saiya."  Goku replied.

Kaioshin had to shake his head.  "Your people always were delusional.  How you find hope in such a moment is beyond me."

Goku looked over at him.  "Which is why I never lost and you constantly fear the loss."

Kaioshin shook his head.  "Yes, you.  Nothing could stop you.  However, my friend I must point out that you will not be fighting today.  Not one of those who do has the faith in themselves that you did.  When I look into their thoughts I see only fear.  Nothing solid can ever be built on fear."

Goku didn't even look at him this time.  "Then why do you fear so much?"

"It is my job.  And today, I fear I will you will be wrong.  The house of cards they have built will not stand.  They ran out of time, and they unlike you, have ran out of hope."

Goku shook his head sadly.  "We shall see.  I'll still bet on them." Goku said as he watched as the two ships separated and entered the Firbald Wormhole.  

Within a few hours they would know which of the two would be right.

*******

Thank you for reading.  Please Review.

The Smooster.


	49. In the Darkest Hour

Chapter 49

In the Darkest Hour

Tuesday July 1, 8:35 pm  (Day One in the Month of Strength 13:35)

"What did you say?"

Tee just about wet himself.  As they decided he looked the least Saiyan among them, he was given the task of answering any calls from the surface.

The Changeling that glared at him through the vid-screen was not something he wanted to look at for very long.  Where as a normal Changeling was mostly white, this one was mostly the crimson color of fresh spilled blood.  It was in the fourth stage already.  Only in a few places was the blood red coloring broken by black or white armor plates.  'This has to be Blizzard.'  Tee thought to himself.

The Changelings face was a shining black.  This only made the red glow of its eyes show up even more apparently.

Tee knew he was staring into the face of his nightmares and it was all he could do to keep the waver out of his voice as he answered.  "I said that Snow told me she was busy playing with her new pet, and did not wish to be disturbed."

The Changelings eyes narrowed.  "So she captured the Monkey and has brought it back to die here?  This is good.  I will also enjoy playing with her new pet."

Tee almost threw up.  

"Let me speak to the Captain.  A peon such as yourself is not worthy of my time."  The Changeling said suddenly.

Tee had no idea what rank of uniform he was wearing.  He had just grabbed one that fit.  He would have to gamble.  "I am sorry.  The Captain is dead.  As your scouters no doubt indicate there are only a few of us left on board.  I am the only one free to speak with you."

'Please buy that Roshi is Snow.  Please buy it.  Oh please for the sake of everything buy the story.'

"Your heading will set you down in the middle of the ruined Capitol City.  I think that is a marvelous place to take the Monkey.  Let her see just how badly she has failed her people.  Tell Snow that I will meet her there in a few hours.  Then we can leave destroy what is left of this dead planet and move on."

"Yes sir."  Tee said as the connection was broken.

Tee swiveled around in his chair to look back at where Roshi was standing next to Ichigo.  He was surprised to see her gripping her hands so tightly that blood was slowly dripping from her fists.

'If Blizzard thinks it is a good thing for us to land there, what waits there for us?'

* * *

The first thing that hit him was the smell.  Smoke and ash filled the air as Roshi stepped out of Snow's ship.  The ash clung to anything and everything.  The smell that clung with it was the acrid choking stench of rotting and burning flesh.  The cold and slight amount of snow that had fallen did nothing to hide the devastation that had befallen the city of Hayashi.  The city was eerily empty.  Roshi could sense almost no one within the city itself.  It seemed not even Blizzard's men wished to walk within the horrors that greeted them here.

To his left Tee threw up.  Roshi turned to see what was wrong and felt his already chilled blood cool further.

A gust of wind had blown the dusting of ashes off of a frozen corpse.  Roshi looked back at Ichigo and saw she had seen it as well.  Her mouth was tight as she clenched her jaw.  Roshi looked at her hands and feared she would re-open the wounds he had just had a healer close.

Ichigo was dressed in her white and light-blue Royal Armor.  Her mother's pendant locked in place high over her sternum.  It held the two gold chains that went out to her blue and white cape, which fluttered gently in the wind.  If it were not for the setting he would have called her beautiful.  Her poise, her stoic stance as she stared off looking past the sight before her, she was a picture of calm collected power.

Yet, in all that, the sight before him only held the level of tragedy that seemed to revolve around her life.  She had known so much pain in her life, and now this.  Roshi could hardly stand to look at her now.  Her stoic pain was too much for him to bear.

Ichigo sadly shook her head and walked past the frozen corpse.  Tee and Boxer's followed at a slight distance.  Roshi took one last look before he too followed.

The corpse was that of a pregnant woman.  She had been striped nude and beaten.  Even with the gray ash and frozen skin the cuts and bruises were easily seen.  Most horrific, however, was that her belly had been slashed.  Her unborn babe half-ripped from her womb.

Roshi cleared the tears from his eyes and followed.  Piles of dead Saiyans had been stacked like cordwood.  Several of the piles burned.  Many showed signs that they had been lit to burn but had gone out.  Before each pile and at each street intersection, a mutilated woman or child had been place.  They had frozen there as statues to remind any who dared to walk these streets what had happened.  It was the most singularly demoralizing and vulgar thing Roshi had ever seen.

Roshi looked ahead to where Ichigo walked.  She walked slowly, as though she wanted to take in everything that was before her.  'How could any race, or any people be so heartless?  How can they be so vile as what I see here?'  Roshi thought as he slowly followed.

He tried to reach out his senses to Ichigo, to see how she was reacting.  She was a walled fortress.  Roshi could sense nothing.  From Tee and Boxers, he felt their horror at what they were seeing, but from Ichigo, there was nothing.

Roshi looked up into the sky, someplace up in orbit, Kit was waiting to help as she could in the Phoenix.  'Kit, I know your people believe in fate as though it is a higher power.  If this is so, I can only ask how fate could be so cruel.  How I could be so powerless in such a time as this.'

Roshi desperately wanted to take Ichigo someplace else, anyplace else, so long as he could spare her from the pain she was no doubt experiencing.

But he could not, so he followed silently, knowing that nothing he could say or do would make things any easier on her.

Ichigo led them up the long steps that lead to the burned out and destroyed Palace.  From the nature of the destroyed gardens and the still evident glory of what it had been, it was the only thing such a building could be.

Half way up the steps, a large olive green man in black blood splattered armor landed before them.

"What is this?  Where is her Lordship Snow?"

"Dead, just like you."  Ichigo said calmly as she held up a hand and shot a ki blast at the man without even falling out of step.

Roshi recognized the ki blast as a Star Ripper, an attack Ichigo had not used for some time.  He realized why when the man held up a hand to stop the blast and it ripped into him.

As Ichigo walked past him, his sliced up body fell to the ground in pieces.  Roshi noted with distaste that the once large warrior now looked like a pile of ground hamburger covering his boots.

'Please Ichigo; do not sink to their level.  You must not sink to their level.'

Ichigo walked through the collapsing archway of the Palace doors and walked down a large hall.  From places that the Palace had not burned, Roshi could tell that this hall had once been a grand ballroom of sorts.  One of its high domes still stood atop damaged buttressed pillars.   Ichigo walked to the first landing of a grand set of stairs and then kneeled in the ashes.

There she picked up the blackened and burned corner of a picture frame.  What remained of it was elaborately carved out of silver colored wood.  No sign of the painting or picture remained.

Ichigo kneeled there and clutched the ruined frame to her chest.  For the first time since looking at the flimsy on the ship, tears formed in her eyes.

Roshi wanted to go lay a hand on her shoulder.  He wanted to help support her.  But he knew she would not want his help.  She would not welcome his touch right now.

The remains of the picture frame suddenly shattered as Ichigo clenched her hands into fists.  Ichigo stood up and wiped her sooty hands off on her legs.  She then carefully climbed the rest of flight of stairs and walked slowly down the collapsing hallway.

She led them into a large room over which the roof had collapsed.  Ichigo threw some of the slabs of building material away from her in frustration but quickly gave up and walked out onto the balcony.

"There is nothing left."  She said mostly to herself as she looked out upon the ruins below her.  Something blew caught her eye, because she quickly jumped into the air and flew down behind the decimated Palace.

There in a small paddock lay several large furry animals.  Most of them had huge holes blown in them and were quite dead.  Ichigo leaned over by one and brushed the ashes off of its metallic gold and bronze looking fur.

It mewed.

Ichigo looked up at them as they landed with tears of hope brimming in her eyes. "It is alive.  We need to get it into the ship."

Ichigo looked up.  "It is one of the Sartan cows my father brought to the Palace gardens to better protect.  This one is showing bronze hair so it is pregnant."

"Ichigo, it's an animal.  Shouldn't we be looking for your people?"  Boxers asked.

Ichigo straightened up and glared at him.  "Look around you!  Look at this place!  The people are in hiding in the Catacombs.  They will live, but if we will have any hope at rebuilding what we have lost things like this unimportant animal must be saved."

Roshi remembered the story Ichigo had told about her Trial of Passage and how her father had helped her cook herself a Sartan.  More than just a chance to rebuild the pathetic wounded creature represented a tie to her past.

'Without directly personal ties such as this she will not have anything worth fighting for in this battle.'  Roshi realized.

Roshi reached into the pocket that had been sewn into his gi and grabbed one of the small capsule ships.  He tossed the capsule a few meters from the downed sartan and waited for the smoke to clear.

"Let's get this thing loaded and up to Kit.  There has to be corn meal or something up there for it to eat."  He said as he waited for the others to help him move the elephant sized beast.

They loaded the animal and then watched as the ship automatically returned to the Phoenix.

"Well that is it.  If they didn't know something was up by now, the do now."  Boxers replied as the ship disappeared.

"It does not matter.  We will fight them when they get here and on this ground of death and destruction Saiya will claim their lives too."  Ichigo said forcefully as she started walking around the Palace the opposite way from that which they had come.

Roshi took in what he could of the sights.  They were obviously walking though what had once been a huge garden.  Smashed fountains and trees littered the ground as Ichigo picked her way around the Palace.

On the other side of the Palace a stadium had once stood.  The large ruined marble blocks stood testimony to what it had once been.  Roshi was impressed with the grandeur of the few remaining spires that had been left standing.  Saiyan construction looked like it was a mesh between Roman and Egyptian works.  Everything was marble, or granite.  Everything was huge.

Roshi walked over to a fallen spire and looked at the helix patter that had been carved into the stone.  'Ichigo clamed that her people did not have artists, but in the architecture I have seen today, they had stunning displays of art.'

Roshi turned back to tell Ichigo what he had been thinking when she suddenly took off and darted up to the top of an obelisk that had been left standing.

Roshi walked around to see what had cause Ichigo to fly off like that.

"Oh no!"  He gasped as he saw her floating near the top of the obelisk.  There at the top of the tower and facing the city itself, hung a man.  Surprisingly he was still in armor, and a red cape draped the white of the obelisk.

Roshi flew up to get a better look at the man he was certain was Ichigo's father.

Roshi had half expected her to loose it and go Super Saiyan up in the ship when she saw that flimsy.  Now as he looked at the emaciated man tied there on that tower of stone, he wondered how she could just float there in silence looking at the gristly sight before her.

Roshi had seen what it looked like to starve to death.  After the evacuation of Vulpe a small group of people felt the Earth was becoming too diverse with alien life.  They had bought a ship and set off for the unknown reaches of space where they could keep their human nature "pure."  A few years before his birth, a ship from Capsule Corp had detected a distress call from their colony and gone to help.  A violent series of storms had wiped out their farms and the entire colony was slowly starving to death.  While the pictures he had seen were vivid, they were only pictures.  This was much more ghastly.

The man was gaunt.  His armor no longer fit on his frail looking frame.  His bare arms were little more than bone, sinew, and tendons.  His eyes had sunken into his head and his mouth was pulled back into a gasping oh.  Roshi could imagine many deaths, but starving to death was one that had always been too gristly for him to imagine.  Seeing this practically mummified man hanging there woke many a nightmare in the back of Roshi's mind.

Ichigo just hung in the air and stared at him.  Roshi watched her.  Her eyes were not staring blankly, but were taking in every detail.  All the while she just hung in the air silently.

"So now I am Queen."  She said to herself almost too softly for Roshi to hear as she reached out and lightly slid her hand down her father's cheek to his pointed goatee.

Roshi started to move toward her when she turned.  "Boxers, give me your sword."

Roshi looked back at Boxers.  He hadn't even remembered that Boxers had Trunks's sword with him.

Boxers quickly flew up and gave her the sword.

Ichigo stared down into the reflection of the sword blade for what seemed like an eternity before she suddenly arced the sword through the air.  Before Roshi or anyone could even react, she had sliced the back behind her head and cut off her long braid.  

Roshi gasped as his mouth fell open.  'She was always so adamant at never cutting her hair!'  Roshi thought as he watched the long braid flutter through the air as it fell down below and into on of the smoldering fires.  Roshi almost went down to get it, but it soon caught and burned.

Roshi gaped at her like she was a ghost.  She had cut it so close to her head that it had given her a bald spot on the very back of her head.  The remaining hair stuck almost straight back before forming a flat edge where she had cut the braid.

"Ichigo why did you..." Roshi began to ask but she turned and glared at him in such a way it made him swallow his tongue.

She then carefully sliced the ropes that bound her father and carried him like a baby down to the ground.  There she hugged him on last time before she flew up and kicked the obelisk.

The large column of quarried marble fell as one onto the cleared area where she had laid her father.  It fell on him and settled.

"What the hell?"  Tee gasped.

But Roshi recalled that Vegeta had insisted he be buried under the largest rock they could find.  Each race of people had their own burial customs and Saiyans obviously entombed their own under large rocks.

'There is so much I truly do not know about her.'  Roshi surmised as he watched her kneel by the fallen slabs of marble.

"Ichigo..."

Ichigo spun around and looked at him.  She seemed to hesitate but then took in a deep breath and shook her head.  "By rights, I am now Queen in everything but Coronation.  It is improper for you to call me by name."

"You have got to be kidding!"  Tee blurted but Roshi held up a hand to stop further discussion.

"She had to adapt on our world, we will do the same here on Saiya.  If we are not to call you by you name, what do you wish to be called?"

"I," Ichigo started, "I want to be called by name, however, as I said that is improper, so call me Kudamono.  My sir name is not much better, but it is better than my first name."

"Ok, just don't expect me to stick to that if a ki blast is about to take off you head.  Your first name is much easier to say."

"Good."  Ichigo nodded.  "I have already wasted far to much time in my reminiscing, I can feel the Changelings approaching.  We need to get into the Catacombs so that we can start loading the wounded onto ships before the Changelings get here."  She said as she handed Boxers his sword back.

"I..." Roshi started and then grimaced.  "Miss Kudamono you realize that propriety in a time such as this is quite pointless, but that non-withstanding, have you changed your mind about the evacuation?"

Ichigo looked thoughtful for a moment.  "Your friend Kit told me about all the work that has been done on her world, and how far they are from finishing.  It will be decades if not longer before Saiya will be a place I can call home again.  This will always be my world, but home is a place where you are safe.  Look around you; I doubt anyone who has seen the sights we now see will ever feel safe here again.  This is a dead world.  While I do not plan on leaving it dead, I think we need to leave for now."

Roshi turned to look at the rest of them.  "You heard her.  Let's get moving."

Ichigo started to walk into the ruined stadium when Roshi sensed a sudden burst of ki to his left.  It was a little over a kilometer away, and it was barely over 20,000 but as soon as it rose two even larger ki bursts rose to challenge it.

Ichigo jumped into the air and flew towards the source of the three struggling ki's

"Get off of me you heathens!"  A young woman's voice cried out as they closed on the scene.

"AIIIEEEEAAAAA!!!!"  The young woman cried as they came into view and he saw two large burly looking men manhandling a Saiyan woman.  One of them was pulling on her tail as she squirmed in pain while the other was busy trying to pull her armor off of her.

The girl's breastplate had split revealing the left side of her chest, which the men were lustfully fondling.  The young woman looked to be the same age as Ichigo, or Mariah, or Slip, and the thought of anyone doing such a thing to them or any woman he knew boiled in his blood.  In a flash of light and ki Roshi went Super Saiyan.

In the next instant he hand knocked the man who was undressing her away and had the one who held her tail by the throat.  "Leave her alone."  He demanded.

The man didn't get a chance to respond as a pink ki blast suddenly blew off the top of his head.

"Scum such as these do not deserve any mercy," Ichigo said as she landed on the first man and smashed his head into the ground.

The girl for her part was cowering in fear.  But when Ichigo spoke, she looked up with an expression of awe.

The girl leapt to her feet and then started to curtsey but stopped as if she were somehow unsure of how she should act.  "My Princess you... your hair!  So you saw..." the girl suddenly leapt and pulled Ichigo into a hug.  "Oh I am so glad you are alive!  We were so worried.  And then when your father died and..."

Tee elbowed Roshi.  "So why do we have to be all super respecting when she lets her do that?"

Roshi sent him a glare that had the words: Shut up you brainless idiot written all over it.

Ichigo returned the hug stiffly and then seemed surprised when the girl jumped back from her and held her at arms length.  "And what happened to your tail?"  The girl asked in shock as she gaped at Ichigo's waist.

"Sakura?"  Ichigo said tentatively looking into the girl's eyes.  "It is you.  I..."

"You lost your tail?  How did you lose your tail?"

Roshi saw the glint of fear break through Ichigo's walls and wash over her eyes.  He would have done just about anything to be invisible at that moment.

Ichigo's face hardened.  "Yes, I lost my tail.  I lost it because I was too arrogant to learn and too blind to see."

Sakura shook her head.  "It does not matter.  You are back.  That is all that matters.  You didn't abandon us.  That is all that matters.  Momo said you would return for us.  Many have started to doubt, but I knew you would be back."

"Momo is alive?  How many people are hiding with her?  I was away for far too long and I was starting to think I would never see you again.  You hid I take it?  How did you end up getting captured by two bullocks like that now?"

Sakura took a step back from Ichigo and stood there looking at her.

Roshi noticed Tee start grinning at the improved view and he hit him hard enough to nock him over and into the side of a ruined building.

That was not to say that Sakura wasn't a fine looking young woman, because she was.  Her short spiky hair spiked forward and to the right giving her hair a windblown look.  A small scar ran from the left side of her forehead down onto her right cheek.  It marred what would otherwise be a very nice face.

She had dark black eyes and an incredibly light complexion.  She was shorter than Ichigo, but not by much.  Her small bust and smaller waist gave her an extremely athletic allure.

No, she was not hard on the eyes, but for Tee to grin so openly was distasteful.

"Would you like to cover up?  The air has to be quite chilling."  Boxers said as he held out his outer jacket he had worn over his gi.

Roshi smiled, 'At least one of us remembered to be a true gentleman.'

Sakura looked up at Tee and then instantly blushed and moved her arm to cover herself while she grabbed the jacket.  "Oh! Thank You.  If you and Princess... Queen Ichigo hadn't come along I..."

"It is best you do not think about it."  Ichigo said as she walked over to kick one of the dead assailants.  "Please, fill me in on what has happened.  I need to know."

Roshi looked to the sky.  "We need to hurry, the Changelings will be here in about a minute."

Ichigo nodded.  "Right.  Everyone give me your capsules.  Take us to the entrance to the Catacombs you have been using Sakura.  And while you are doing that tell use what has happened."

"Yes ma'am" Sakura said quickly as she started flying over the ruined buildings and piles of dead bodies.  "But who are these strangely clothed people with you?"

"They are our allies in this.  It is a long story best saved for later.  First tell us your tale."  Ichigo replied.

"Well I do not know where to start.  Your father fought them to the end.  He starved to death.  A most terrible way to die."

"Yes I know."  Ichigo replied.

"No, you do not know.  The Changelings came with over twenty million troops.  They brought their entire army.  Every last soldier came to Saiya.  We fought as best we could.  I saw my brother go down."  She looked back at Ichigo, "He was at the Palace.  He took a ki blast for Momo.  I was about to jump in to help the fight when Momo grabbed me.  She told me that you had told her to hide in the Catacombs.  Your Father had fallen back as the front lines closed and two Warriors were helping him to get into a defendable location.  He overhead what she said and then told me that you would be back with help.  He said to help Momo save the children that had been taken to shelter below the Palace."

"We grabbed what we could and fled.  Momo, myself, a few other true warriors and a few civilians fled into the depths with the children."

Ichigo sped up.  "So all who are in the Catacombs are children?"

"Yes, mostly all of the survivors are, and we are running out of food.  Which is why I was on the surface.  I was scavenging what I could find."

"How?  How did it get this bad?"  Ichigo asked in a distant voice.

"They could not break us, so they decided to kill us all.  When your father refused to be broken, they started parading people in front of him and killing them in mass."

"He refused to eat because all they would give him to eat was the meat of those they had killed in front of him.  He starved himself defying them.  It was a message to us all. Even if we died they would not cow us.  While I hid protecting the children, the people rose up.  They fought and died, but they battled and we were not cowed."

"That is unbelievably horrendous!"  Tee commented, "They tried to force him to become a cannibal?  That's disgusting!"

Sakura looked over at him and nodded.  It was the type of a smile and nod one uses with a child.  "I think the only reason they are even here any longer is to wait for Snow to return."

"She's dead."  Ichigo said quietly.

Sakura stopped and turned.  "How?"

"We killed her."  Ichigo said simply.

"Changelings, twenty seconds," Roshi yelled over his shoulder as he stopped following them and turned to float in the direction of the Changelings.

"Sakura, take these."  Ichigo said as she handed her the duffel full of capsules.  "Click the button and throw them away from you.  Each one is a ship.  Load the children aboard them and leave.  There is a ship in orbit that will help you.  The woman on board is not Saiyan, but you can trust her.  My father trusted you to get the children hidden.  Now I need you to get them to where they will be safe."

"But we cannot just run away!"

Ichigo turned.  "Changelings blow up planets when they start to lose!  Get the children off Saiya.  That is an order.  Do not argue with me!"

Sakura started to take the duffel so that she could escape.

It was too late.

The four Changelings were there and had them surrounded before she could move.

Roshi looked at them and smiled.  Fate was on his side.  Only Blizzard it seemed was beyond the first stage.  The other three were in their weakest form.  'Three males, one female, if I can kill one or hopefully two of them before they transform then this fight might not be so bad.'

"Well, well, well," Blizzard said in a remarkably feminine voice.  "If it isn't the Princess Monkey and one of the other vermin pests that we've been trying to root out."

"You can retreat now Blizzard and I will let you leave."  Ichigo said calmly as she finished handling the duffle to Sakura.

"Oh now that is just almost cute!"  Blizzard laughed.  "I don't know how you managed to steal Snow's ship from her, but you will regret your attempt at subterfuge."

Ichigo laughed.  "What subterfuge?  Snow is dead.  She fought a Super Saiyan and lost."

Blizzard checked his scouter.  "Do you think I am stupid?  You may have a power level that is disgustingly high for a monkey, but you are still a bug to be squashed.  There are no Super Saiyans here."

Roshi smirked. 'Nice to know I was actually able to keep my ki down even as a Super Saiyan.'

Ichigo shook her head.  "Oh I am not talking about myself."  She turned and pointed.  "That is your Super Saiyan.  That is your death if you stay."

Blizzard looked at Roshi for a few moments.  "I grow tired of you stupid games.  He is not Saiyan.  He had no tail.  Besides, his power is even weaker than your own pathetic amount."

Sakura was looking from Ichigo to Blizzard to Roshi as though she was in shock.

"Oh, I assure you that he is Saiyan.  Blizzard, meet your death.  Meet Son Roshi, heir to the Vegeta line.  Those once cast out as traitors now return as our saviors.  He is our myth and your nightmare. He is our strength, our honor, our glory, our justice and most importantly our vengeance.  So I say again, leave now, or die."

Roshi didn't know where Ichigo found her sudden sense of bravado, but he found her words to be energizing.  He pulled his ki in even deeper as he focused his mind.  'Thank you for your trust Ichigo, now I only need to show that I earned it.'

"I will take no more of this foolishness.  Kill the one she claims to be her savior first."  Blizzard said as he turned away.  "Then bring me the girl when the rest are dead."  

Roshi saw his chance and threw a Kienzian at the back of Blizzard's neck.

The Changeling must have heard it because he turned at the last second and ducked to the side.  The disk cut deeply into his cheek, but otherwise missed him.

The other three Changelings jumped as one at Roshi.

The battle for Saiya was underway.

* * * * * * 

If you want me to post again soon you had better review.   I know a lot of you are not.  I gave you a double dose of Fic... least you can do is review.

The Smooster.


	50. From Bad to Worse

Chapter 50

From Bad to Worse

Day 1 in the month of Strength, 16:30

Blizzard spun away from the Kienzian at the last second.  The spinning disk of ki would have taken his head off, but merely cut a slash into his cheek.

'Damn!'  Roshi thought as he sensed the other three Changelings jump at him.  'I was hoping I could end this fast.'  He thought as he quickly took a step back.  'Ah well, time to show them why they are afraid of Super Saiyans.'

"Jump people!"  Roshi yelled.  Then, in the split second that the three Changelings where arching down through the bleak gray-blue sky to kick him from three sides, Roshi kneeled down on the hard packed snow and balled his fists and arms across his chest. 

At the last moment, he whipped his arms out.  "YAAAAHHH," he screamed as a brilliant yellow dome of ki shot out and away from him.  The wall of force his ki created threw not only the Changelings, but also debris, bodies, and anything else that it encountered out of the way.  Roshi was left in the exact center of a perfectly flat and clear circle that measured about 40 meters across.

Roshi slowly raised his head to look up at the large pile of marble upon which Blizzard stood.  Blizzard was surprisingly small.  Roshi guessed that he stood about 145 cm tall (about 4'9").

"You were warned.  I am a Super Saiyan.  I killed Snow, and if you won't leave, I will kill you all as well.  Now which one of you wants to die first?"  He said as he stood up and flared his ki.

"Sakura!"  Roshi's momentary amount of bravado was shattered as Ichigo yelled out the Saiyan girl's name.

'Oh no!' Roshi thought with a jolt as he reached out with his senses and found the girl.  Sakura was alive, but clearly unconscious lying on her face in the snow some 60 meters from where Roshi stood.  Ichigo was already landing next to the fallen girl.

"Pathetic!  Your own attack felled one of your own warriors!"  Blizzard mocked Roshi from where he stood.  The blood red Changeling turned and looked at his three companions as they slowly got back to their feet and shook off any damage they may have taken from their encounter with Roshi's bubble of pure ki.

"I've changed my mind.  This one will be entertaining.  I think I will fight him.  Kill the other four."

Roshi closed his eyes for a moment so he could get a better sense of the powers around him.  'Blizzard is not at full power yet, but he is very nearly my level.  As long as the other three Changelings don't transform, Ichigo, Boxers, and Tee should be able to handle things on their own.'  Roshi glanced at where Ichigo was kneeling over Sakura.  'If they can focus that is.'  He thought with regret.

Blizzard leapt at him in a whirring front flip.  Roshi just barely jumped back as Blizzard's tail sliced through the jacket Roshi was wearing over his gi like the jacket had been made of butter.

'That was close,' Roshi thought as he blocked two punches and then jumped back and away from Blizzard's tail as it slashed out at him again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ichigo was patting Sakura's forehead with snow in an effort to wake her up.  Sakura had not jumped soon enough, nor flown fast enough to escape Roshi's attack.  It had hit her and thrown her as though she were leaves tossed about in the wind.  The impact with either the ki wave, or the collapsed building had snapped her collarbone and her left leg.  Blood was starting to stain the navy blue fabric of Boxers's jacket where her shattered collarbone had speared through her skin.

"Wake up Sakura!  I did not come back here to watch you become a victim now."  Ichigo said desperately to her fallen friend.  "Come on!  Wake up!"

Ichigo felt a Changeling approaching, but she ignored it.  "Damn it!  Why did we leave all those Namekians on the ship?"

The Changeling was walking up to her.  The snow crunched slowly under its feet.  The sound stopped several meters back, indicating that he Changeling was stupid enough to stop rather than attack her while her back was turned.

It laughed.  "At least you know how to bow down and await your death Princess."

Ichigo turned her head just far enough to see the small Changeling out of the corner of her eye.  In it's first form it looked like all other male changelings except this one was pink and canary yellow.  'This must be Thunder.  If I remember right Thunder was almost thrown out of his family for being a misfit.'

Ichigo turned back to look at Sakura.  "Since you killed my father, you made me Queen you misbegotten worthless freak of a Changeling."  Ichigo replied over her back.  'The taunts that used to work so well on me aught to work on him as well.'

"What did you say you dirty little monkey!?!  Are you blind and stupid?  I am a Changeling!  I am one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe and you are nothing but a hairless vermin invested disease-plagued ape!  Look at me when I am talking to you!"

'Please wake up Sakura.  I do not wish to leave you defenseless, but I have no choice.'  Ichigo said in her mind to her friend before she turned and got up to face Thunder.  'The idiot is so sure he can beat me that he did not even attempt to attack me while my back was turned.  Is he that stupid, or did my words just fluster him that well?'

"Correction," Ichigo said calmly after she turned to look down at Thunder.  "You were one of the most powerful beings in the universe." She finished moments before her aura flared brilliant red and she drove a Ki Punch charged fist directly into Thunder's stomach.

Thunder collapsed around her fist and his head fell forward.  Ichigo slapped the side of his head, practically caving in his squarish ear with her other arm and followed that up as she kicked him in the shin and used his momentum to sweep his feet out from under him.

Thunder fell and slid on some ice to land in a heap at the base of what had once been a large barracks facility.  Ichigo jumped down after him and glared at him as he balled himself up in a fetal position and gasped for breath.

"The only vermin I see today is your kind."  Ichigo said as she hauled back her leg and kicked him hard enough to send him flying back towards Blizzard.  Thunder almost Blizzard as he circled Roshi.  The sight of his brother slamming head first into the marble ruins of the building he and Roshi were fighting on distracted Blizzard long enough for Roshi to drive two roundhouses into the Changeling's head.

Once the building stopped falling in on him, Thunder did not move.  'Good, his ki has fallen to almost nothing.  He is not dead, but he is out of the fight.'  Ichigo thought to herself as she flew to help Boxers with Ice.

Ice was even larger than Snow had been.  It was clear that she was stronger too.  She was, however, still not as strong as Boxers, and when Ichigo showed up, it turned the fight quite substantially.

Ice was a dull battleship gray.  There were a few plates of armor that were even darker, but the only thing on her that had color were her eyes, which were a bright orange rust tint.  

Ice glared at Ichigo apprehensively.  "Don't expect me to be as easy as that idiot Thunder.  He always was worthless."

Ichigo cocked her head to the side slightly.  "Did Blizzard fail to teach you not to talk to your superiors?  I do not recall asking for an opinion."

Ice didn't wait to be attacked; she just leapt right at Ichigo.  Ichigo jumped up and kicked her in the face.  Ice was knocked back several tens of meters where she fell onto her back.

"Boxers, I can handle this.  Go get Sakura and carry her back to where the healers are waiting.  We need her awake so she can lead the people who are in the Catacombs to safety."

"No, problem."  Boxers replied before he jetted off in Sakura's direction.

'Hmm, normally Boxers would have acknowledged me by name, yet I told them not to, so he is silent.  I know my father would have expected me to require proper respect be given.'  Ichigo watched Ice get back up, 'however, now is not the time.'

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the Phoenix, Kit was waiting for the air locks to finish cycling.  The smaller rescue ships were automated to the point where they could dock to the Phoenix with no pilots.  All Kit had to do was show the survivors to a room where the last five Namekians were waiting to help heal the wounded.

"Well, I didn't get to go down to the planet, but I do get to help the people."  She told herself as she grabbed one of the med kits and a satchel filled with capsules of food.

"MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" bellowed something on the other side of the airlock as the doors started to open.

"What the?" Kit said moments before the higher-pressure air from inside the rescue ship forced its way in and past her nose.

Kit's eyes started to water instantly as the sickly sweet stench of death and decay hit her like a shot from a pepper gun.

Then the deck plates started to shake.

Kit barely had time to move out of the way before an elephant sized animal with bronze-gold fur charged through the door, past her, and down the main corridor of the ship.

Kit had to grab an emergency air mask from the locker by the air lock before she could breath again.

"What in hell was that?" Kit said to the air.  She quickly walked into the docked ship and looked around.  "There isn't anyone in here."  Kit shook her head.  "Some sick twist of fate or something.  Did that creature somehow launch the ship?"

Kit looked around at the nearly devastated rescue ship.  'Whatever it was it just about destroyed everything in here.  I need to see if I can trap it someplace before the real rescue starts.'

* * *

"You!  You can't be real!  I refuse to believe this is happening!  Just wait till Lord Blizzard gets here.  He'll destroy you for this!"  The big-bloated twenty-legged spider looking thing yelled.

"Can I rip off another leg now?"  Slip asked sinisterly.

Goshu looked from where the insectoid warrior was desperately trying to keep Slip away from it's remaining legs over to the large group of several thousand warriors that were standing between him and the holding pens Blizzard's troops had forced the remaining Saiyans into.

'Slip seems to be enjoying this too much,' Goshu surmised.  'Not much I can do about that now, but if I let her push the bug too far he might order his troops to just kill the people we came to rescue.'

Goshu pointed off to the edge of the horizon were there were a group of large saucer ships parked.  "Are those your ships?"

"Don't bother trying to steal them to make your escape.  Lord Blizzard will find you."  The warrior said directly before he spat green slime at Slip from between his large mandibles.

Slip kicked him in the face and smashed in one of the warrior's compound eyes.

"Slip, don't kill him, at least not yet."  Goshu warned before he turned to the assembled group of warriors.

"Those of you with scouters might be able to detect the battle that is now going on near Saiya's Capitol.  Blizzard isn't coming.  He is learning first hand of the power of a Super Saiyan."

As he shouted the words Super Saiyan, he let his Kaio-ken powered red aura expand to its absolute highest level.  The dramatic flare seemed to have an effect as nearly half of the assembled warriors suddenly fell to their knees and started begging for mercy.

"Shut up!"  Goshu screamed at the top of his lungs.  "You have blood of billions on your hands, you are despicable, and you do not deserve mercy.  I however, am more lenient than some.  Go to your ships now and leave this world or die!"

* * *

Roshi was realizing several things, which he did not want to be realizing.  The first thing he realized was that he had been sourly mistaken when it came to what to expect from Blizzard.  Now that he was fighting he remembered Ichigo saying that Snow was female so she was slower but stronger than the males.  Roshi realized that he had expected to have a speed advantage in the fight with Blizzard.  But there was no advantage.  Blizzard was almost exactly the same speed and power as Roshi.

The second thing Roshi realized was that while he had become used to his weighted boots and wrist guards, he was not used to wearing them in the intense gravity of Saiya.  Roshi guessed that the gravity here was close to ten times what Earth's gravity was.  While he had barely noticed the extra weight earlier, now that he was fighting Blizzard, it was slowing him down.  Not much, but enough to be giving Blizzard an edge.

Blizzard shot down and kicked Roshi in the side.  Roshi stumbled and slid on some ice before he back flipped over a fallen streetlight and landed behind what had probably once been a trash receptacle.  Without even pausing, Roshi kicked it at Blizzard and then threw a Masenko to follow.

Blizzard knocked the metal bin away and was then smacked in the face by the Masenko.  He spun backwards and then landed with a front flip on the street.

"I would have thought that the mythical Super Saiyan would be a harder opponent.  I grow tired of this charade."  Blizzard closed his eyes for a moment and then raised his arms up to fire several rapid-fire ki blasts at Roshi.

* * *

Tee was starting to get annoyed.  The blue Changeling he fought had a maximum power of about 760,000 or so by Tee's best estimate.  Which meant Tee didn't even really have to strain himself to hard with the Kaio-Ken to be quite a bit stronger and faster than the Changeling.

This did not stop the Changeling from bouncing back after every attack.

"You'll pay for this humiliation Monkey!"  The Changeling screamed before sending several more of his nasty stinging ki blasts at Tee.

Tee jumped up and landed on a large pile of snow.  The snow was not solid and soon blew away in the backwash from his landing.  This much to Tee's revulsion reveled the pile to actually be a pile of dead Saiyan women.

'Ugh,' Tee fought the reflex to hurl again and turned to glare at the little gloating Changeling.  'This is disgusting!  Why am I toying with a monster like this?'

* * *

Ichigo was caught in mid air by a hail of ki blasts.  They pitted and burned her armor knocking her back and away from Ice.  "Damn it Roshi!"  She screamed in frustration when she realized she had not been paying attention to Roshi and Blizzard.

'Gah!  That stings.'  She thought as she looked back towards Blizzard.  'Come on Roshi I know you can do better than this!'

* * *

Roshi blocked the blasts and then noted that not all of them had been directed at him.  'Shit, several of those hit Ichigo.'  Roshi opened his mind further and found she was not hurt by the attack.  This calmed his nerves a touch, but for only a moment before he felt a power spike behind him.  He was just about to turn to get a better sense of what it was then Blizzard kicked him in the throat.  The blow bruised his Adam's apple and almost crushed his larynx.  

Roshi struggled for breath as Blizzard followed up the kick with several rapid jabs to Roshi's ribs.

Roshi coughed and spat bloody spit into Blizzard's eyes before kicking off the ground and slamming both of his knees into Blizzard's forehead.

Blizzard had seen the attack coming so was already ducking back away from the blow.  Roshi's knees barely glazed Blizzard's forehead.

"Is this the best the mythical Super Saiyan can do?  I can see why Kold and his sons were so afraid of you.  You are quite powerful compared to them.  I however am far stronger than they ever dreamed."  Blizzard mocked.

Roshi was about to comment when he realized the energy spike from behind him was still going up.  He jumped back away from a haphazard swipe of Blizzard's tail and caught a glimpse of the battlefield.  'Ichigo's mauling the big gray female, and Tee is holding his own against the blue one.  I don't see Boxers.'  Roshi held his concentration away from Blizzard for too long and was rewarded with a ki ball to the side of his face.

Roshi lifted his hand up to feel the singed area of his scalp.  'Damn it, that was just starting to look normal again.  It's going to take me a month to re-grow that hair.'

Roshi ignored Blizzard's posturing blather and jumped down to land on the big gray female's shoulders.  After her head had shattered the concrete and been driven into the frozen ground he bounced off and landed by Ichigo.  "Where's Boxers!"

Ichigo turned and ran past him.  "I sent him to the ship with Sakura so she could be healed.  Hurry, I thought Thunder was out of it, but he is transforming!"  She said before she threw a large double-handed Flare attack into the pile of debris Thunder was in.

"I've had enough of you pests!"  Blizzard screamed as he came closer to Roshi.

Roshi turned to face him.  "Good then as soon as I kill you, you can forget all about us."  He said dropping into a defensive stance as Blizzard shot at him.

Roshi started to charge a Kamehameha to throw at him when Blizzard suddenly veered off to the right.

'Oh shit', Roshi knew instantly where he was going.  "Tee watch out."  Roshi yelled as he tossed the Kamehameha at Blizzard's back.

Tee kicked the bright blue and white male away and then turned to look over at Roshi.

Tee's eyes bulged out when he saw Blizzard and he tried to dodge out of the way, but Blizzard caught him with a down thrust kick, which drove the Changeling's heel into the side of Tee's neck.

Tee collapsed like a limp noodle and fell to Blizzard's feet.

"NOOOO!"  Roshi screamed.  Seeing Tee go down woke a surge of desperation in Roshi.  He reached into the well of power that was always there but never available and knew only he could save Tee now.  

"I won't let you kill him!" he shouted as he knifed through the air passing his own Kamehameha.  The blue and white Changeling saw Roshi coming and quickly slunk away seeming to not want to get anywhere near a Super Saiyan.

Blizzard was about to deliver a finishing blow to Tee when Roshi slammed into his back and knocked him into a frozen pile of bodies.

Fighting in the ruins of the city in amongst the piles of dead disgusted Roshi.  The impact shattered several of the bodies as though they were fragile glass.  The head of a young woman who had probably been Max's age rolled down the pile to bounce off of Tee and land staring with vacant lifeless eyes up at Roshi.

Roshi stared into her dead eyes and almost forgot to duck as his Kamehameha caught up.

Blizzard was starting to get back up and knocking over corpses in the process.  The Kamehameha grazed over Roshi's back and slammed right into Blizzard knocking him down again.

Roshi flew in and grabbed his arm.  "You have desecrated enough of this world.  This ends now!"  He yelled as he wrenched Blizzard's arm and threw him towards the outskirts of the city.

Roshi then kneeled to check on Tee.  Ichigo landed next to him and knocked a ki blast away.

"He's alive, but his neck is broken.  We don't dare move him, but as it is, we can't move him."

"We dare not just leave him either.  The Changelings will kill him."  Ichigo replied,  "But that isn't our biggest problem right now.  Look, Thunder is already at level two, and Ice is transforming now.  Thunder and Chill are standing guard.  While they cannot stop me, by working together like that, I cannot break through and stop them from taking the time to transform."

Roshi looked down at Tee and then over at the three Changelings gathered below.  He knew he didn't have much time before Blizzard recovered and came back.  "This is your world we are fighting for.  Can you hold off Blizzard at least until Boxer's gets back?  I should be able to keep those three occupied."

Ichigo glared at him, "I can handle Blizzard for a while.  Just stop the other three or Tee here won't be the only one needing a healer."

* * *

Boxers had followed the now happily healed, fed, and better dressed Sakura to an entrance to the Catacombs.  The two of them landed before a large metal door set into the side of a hill.  It looked like nothing more than an old cellar door.

"It is right here."  She said as she beat her knuckles against the door sounding out what was obviously a coded message.  "Just a moment and we will be in."  She said turning to look at him as though she was waiting for him to do something.

"That's good.  I wanted to make sure you got here safely, but I really aught to get back to the fight."

Sakura gave him an appraising look.  "Is he really a Super Saiyan?  The golden haired one?"

Boxers nodded.  "Yes, Roshi is definitely a Super Saiyan."

Sakura cocked her head to the side a touch before gingerly reaching out and carefully grabbing a few strands of Boxers's long silky blonde hair.  "And you also claim to be Saiyan?  Your hair is gold, why are you not also a Super Saiyan?  Is your weak hair an indication of a weak body as well?"

Boxers mouth fell open.  He had once seen a picture of Mirai Trunks from right when he exited the ROSAT before going off to face Cell.  With the exception of being blonde and blue eyed, he was near the spitting image of Trunks.  While he was not up to par with Roshi, no one had ever mocked his hair or questioned his fitness in quite that manner.  "Excuse me?  I may not be a Super Saiyan yet, but I certainly am not weak!"

Sakura smirked.  "No, just limp?  Had not the Pr... The Queen said you were a Saiyan I would have never believed it.  You have not the look nor truly the act of a Saiyan."  She finished as she stretched some in the Capsule Corp version of the Vegeta's armor; she now wore, and brushed her fingers down his chest.

'Holy DENDE!  She's flirting with me!'  Boxers realized with a jolt.  This realization and the sudden loud crack of sound that accompanied the opening of the large metal door set in the ground they stood by.

"You've made a mistake coming here!" An old grizzled man yelled as he poked his head out and glared at them.  His face changed almost instantly.  "Sakura!  You're alive!  Why are you smiling?  What's goin on?  We all thought you was dead girl!  When we heard you knocking we checked and thought you had being forced to tell how do get down here to a Changeling."  The man looked at Boxers.  "But you ain't no Changeling and ya doan have the look of one of Blizzard's men."

Sakura shook her head rapidly.  "Father we don't have time for this.  Where is Momo?"

"At headquarters like always."  The old man replied before ushering them inside so he could reseal the doors.  "And who may I ask is this?"  He asked once again looking at Boxers.

"Oh, where are my manners?"  Sakura laughed.  "Father this is Boxers, he is a descendant of the Vegeta Rebels.  Boxers, this is my father Anzu."  Sakura took a breath before either could speak and continued.  "Father, Prin...  Queen Ichigo is back.  This is one of those she brought with her to help us."

The man looked to be a good number of years too old to be Sakura's father.  "Your father?  You look like you could be her grandfather."  He said instantly realizing the mistake of the words.

Anzu peered at him through half lidded eyes.  "I married late not that it is any of your business.  A Vegeta Rebel eh?  How low we have sunk in our muddy flounderings." 

Boxers ignored the man's comments.  "Ich... Queen Ichigo wanted me to get her here safely.  I have a fight I need to get to."  Boxers paused.  "Oh, and although you may not be pleased, I am pleased to meet you, but I have to go."  Boxers turned to leave before they could seal him in.

"Wait!"  A female voice cried out through the depths.

Boxer's turned.  A woman in white robes was rushing into view.  As she grew closer he realized she had a striking resemblance to Ichigo.  The woman's eyes were darker, and her hair shorter.  But she could have been Ichigo's sister with the exception of the fact he knew she had no siblings.

"Wait!"  The woman said again.  "Please, you said my niece is alive?  She is back?"

Boxers nodded.  "Yes, ah, Queen..."

"Oh drop the formality and tell me how she is!"

Boxers was about to relent and drop into conversation with Ichigo's aunt when he felt a surge of ki from a changeling followed directly by the sudden lack of anything detectable from Tee.

"Oh fuck!"  Boxer's remembered where he was.  "I am sorry, but one of my friends just went down.  I have to go."  He said as he turned and darted through the still open doors out into the chilled winter air.

Boxers shot towards the ship where the Namekians were.  "I'm coming Tee, just hold on buddy."

* * *

"I don't think so."  A large and sinister looking man said as he landed between Goshu and the horde of Blizzard's troops.

The man was huge.  He stood at least 2.5 meters(8'3")tall and was almost at broad.  He was hunter green and yellow colored with large six fingered hands that ended in black claws.  Even his leathery bat wings had barbs and claws on them.

"I am a Chartashan!"  Screamed the new warrior.  "I killed my own king to join Blizzard, and I am not about to run from you puny Saiyans!"

Goshu realized that this newcomer was stirring up the rest of the warriors.  If he wasn't beaten and beaten fast and thoroughly, then there would be a lot more blood shed today than Goshu had hoped.  "Then you will be the first to fall."  He said as he threw a Kamehameha at the warrior.

The green warrior jumped into the bright blue summer sky laughing.  "No!  She will be!  Joltage!"  He yelled as he launched a bolt of electrical looking ki directly at Maxine.

"Max duck!"  Goshu yelled but it was to no avail.  The bolt hit Max full on in the chest and arced around her singing her gi and filling the air with the stench of ozone and melted hair.

Max's eyes rolled back in her head and she fell over without even making a sound.

Goshu's Kamehameha cut a circular angle through the air to slam into the Chartashan, but the damage had been done.  In a split second of shock Slip relaxed her hold on the large insectoid warrior.

In a flash he moved to catch her slim waist between it's large mandibles.  Slip shouted in surprise, and hit him in the top of his head, crushing it like an egg and killing the warrior, but not before she had received a possibly lethal dose of venom.

Goshu heard her scream and turned to watch her pull herself free of the dead warrior's fangs.  "I feel like I'm on fire."  She muttered as she winced and doubled over.

"Slip, get to the ship.  Don't argue just move!"

Time, however, was up for them.  As Goshu turned around to face the warriors again, they seemed to take that as a cue to attack.  Goshu turned to watch a wave of ki race towards him as over a thousand warriors attacked as one.

* * *

"Stop following me!"  Kit yelled at the gigantic elephant sized beast.   

The animal had turned out to be very docile once it had calmed down.  It had in fact, proven to be rather like a very large dog.  It was now trying to follow Kit anywhere she went.

Kit had originally loved the large open hallways of the Phoenix.  Since the front section had originally been built as a cargo vessel, the halls between holds were very large to facilitate the loading and unloading of cargo.

Now, however, the facilitated the large smelly animal as it followed Kit around.  

Smarter than it looked, it refused to go into any of the many cargo holds Kit had tried to lure it into.  It would just stop and stare at her from the hallway until she gave up and went someplace else.

"I swear when Roshi gets back up here I am going to give him a piece of my... OOUCH!"  Kit screamed as the Sartan's long leathery tongue suddenly rapped around her tail and threatened to yank it off.

Kit suddenly found herself being shaken as though the animal was trying to shake her free of her tail.  "AAAAHHHHH!!!  I am not a plant let go, let go, let go!"  She cried as she beat her elbows against its leathery nose.

Finally convinced that either her formerly fluffy tail was not a gray shrub, or that it was not worth it, the beast dropped her and slowly ambled away.

"Ahhhh I definitely have tail bones broken."  Kit gasped as she stood up and had shards of pain shoot up from her now bleeding tail.  "No wonder Ichigo wouldn't drop the conversation about how Roshi was cruel!"

Kit slowly ambled to where the Namekians were, so they could fix her tail up.  "Oh, this is humiliating!" 

* * *

Thunder had skipped stage two and gone all the way to stage three in his transformation.  This gave Roshi hope.  Obviously the Changelings needed time to recover before they could make the final transformation.

Unfortunately for him on the other hand was the fact that Ichigo really was no match for Blizzard.  She had fought for less than a second before he had managed to incase her in an energy sphere thing.  The glowing ball of Red ki now hovered about a hundred meters off the ground.  Ichigo beat her fists against the walls of it but was unable to break it.

Her ki was starting to drop away.

"Well Super Saiyan," Blizzard sneered as he used his free hand to lob a ki blast at him.  "Your time is growing short, but not as short as hers.  I think I will enjoy watching you fight the inevitable.  She's suffocating in there.  Anything that could break that shell would kill her instantly.  Bow down and accept death or watch your precious Princess die slowly."

'He is controlling it with that up held arm, but anytime I get close to him he causes it to get smaller, which could kill Ichigo.'  Roshi didn't know what to do.  He had knocked Ice out and stopped her transformation, but Chill had gotten smart and flown up into space.  He could feel the blue Changeling transforming not more than a few hundred kilometers from where the Phoenix sat in orbit.  'Oh please don't spot the ship.'  He silently prayed.

Ichigo was gasping for air.  She had her hands pressed against the side of the ki sphere.  She was looking at him.  She needed him.

Roshi ducked as Thunder landed next to him and tried to take Roshi's head off with his large clawed hands.

"You're not the only one with claws!  Jade Talon!"  Roshi yelled as three nuclear green scyth like claws of ki sprouted out of each of his hands.  A quick pair of slashes and Thunder had six bloody gashes forming an X on his chest.

"That's it!"  Roshi realized as he threw a ki ball into the ground between himself and Blizzard.  'He can't sense me, and now he can't see me.  

Roshi shot for the sphere, which contained Ichigo and quickly slashed at the sides of it.

The sphere ruptured with a gigantic explosion that shook the ground and toppled the several of the damaged buildings that had not fallen previously.

Roshi cleared the smoke about kilometer further out from the Palace than the center of the blast had been.  It not only took the fight further from the ships, but further from Tee.

"Come on Ichigo, breathe.  He said as he looked down at her in his arms.  She coughed and her flushed face started to return to it's normal coloring.

She opened her eyes blinked twice and then glared at him.  "Put me down!"  She said moments before she slapped him.

He dropped her.  Ichigo regained control over her fall long before she would have hit the ground.

"You like cutting things close don't you!"  She screamed at him.  Roshi blinked as he realized she was so mad as to use contractions again.  It didn't happen all that often anymore.

"No, not particularly!"  He yelled back.

"Well then why aren't you fighting like I have seen you fight before?  You practically seem to be toying with them!"  She yelled her face flushed with anger.

"I am!  Ichigo! I am!  Blizzard is just stronger and a heck of a lot smarter than I had expected!"

"Well try harder!"  Ichigo yelled before turning to fly back towards the city.

"Ichigo!"  Roshi called after her.

"That is Sir, Ma'am, or Your Highness to you!"  She shouted without even looking back.

Roshi glared at her.  "Great time to get petty!  For all we... Oh SHIT Boxers!"

* * *

Goshu put up a ki wall that was strong enough to shield both himself and Slip.  While each individual ki blast was not that strong, together they were more than enough to have reduced either one of them to atoms.

Slip was starting to convulse as she broke into cold sweats from the toxin.

"Hang in there girl, your mother would kill me if you died."  Goshu said as he stooped to pick her up and toss her over his shoulder.  I've never made a tactical retreat before, but I think this time it is needed."

Goshu shot up into the air only to watch in horror as a wave of warriors looking nothing so much as ants washed over Max and Nail where the two had fallen.

"I didn't even feel Nail go down."  Goshu said in shock.

For a few moments he didn't think the battle could go any worse.

Then he watched almost in slow motion as a ki blast hit the landing ship.  The ship rocked for a moment, and then their landing ship blew up.

The landing ship had still held five of the ten Healers they had brought with them.  It had also still held all of the capsule ships. 

It was nearly impossible to destroy a capsule.  Goshu had only once seen the effects of what happened when one exploded incorrectly.  The extra-dimensional pocket within them collapses and the resulting micro black hole first sucks in loose matter around it before it too implodes and then releases the matter within.

Goshu watched in horror as first one then more of the capsules cooked off.  As the fire of the burning ship destroyed the containment of the extra-dimensional pockets within each capsule catastrophe bloomed.

Goshu felt the other five healers die as they had not gone far enough from the ship and had been caught in the suddenly disintegrating landscape as the capsules and the ships within them exploded.

Several nuclear bombs had gone off in close proximity to them during the fight with Snow.

That was merely a firecracker compared to what was happening now.

* * *

Up in space on the Phoenix, isolated from the battle Kit had finally made it back to the ship's bridge.

She looked at the readouts and shuddered.  One bank of blinking red text showed that every single capsule ship Goshu's group had taken with them had been destroyed.

Another screen was monitoring the health of the fighters down below.  Tee and Slip were flashing yellow.  Ichigo, and Goshu were green.  Max and Nail were flashing red.  Only Roshi and Boxers were still in the blue, indicating good fighting condition.

Slip looked at the map of the world.  Goshu was now leading a massive contingent of warriors away from where their landing ship had blown up.

"They're leaving the prisoner's unguarded!"  Kit said with no attempt to cover her surprise.

She looked back up at the screen.  "Wait! Roshi said that names turn black if someone dies.  Which means..." 

Max and Nail were both still flashing red.  They had been at ground zero and most of the warriors that had gathered there had flown of so quickly after Goshu they may not have realized the two were still alive.

Kit shook her head.  "Roshi, I promised I would stay out of this, but I can't"

Kit rushed to get two of the healers and several bags of Capsule ships before she got into one of the last landing ships, and headed for the planet.   

* * *

Please Review

I am sooo sorry this took so long to post.

Barring more problems with FF.net, I will post 51 SOON.

The Smooster.

p.s.  hey stop by my forum ;)

oh.. and if you want to be on my mailing list, leave an address.


	51. For Those you Love

This chapter is dedicated to all the people (beta readers) who knew this was coming and didn't tell anyone about it.

Chapter 51

For Those You Love

Day One in the Month of Strength, 17:20

Boxers stood over Tee as Conch the Healer knelt to check him over.  'What the hell are Roshi and Ichigo doing over there?'  He thought as he looked down the long blade of his sword at Blizzard.  'Ok I know Blizzard just about blew the planet up with that last explosion, but that's really no reason to flee that far away...'

Sudden realization hit him.  'Shit, they were trying to lead the Changelings away from Tee and the city.  SHIT!  SHIT!  SHIT!  Why do I always have to be in the wrong place?'

"Your monkey friends have all been blown away.  Their gone and they left you and that fallen one for me to kill.  They weren't even a challenge and I have seen you fight.  Do you really think that little toy is going to stop me?  I think I will enjoy ripping you limb from limb and then I think I might even use your own blade to dissect you while your heart still beats."  Blizzard said with a rabid grin.

Boxers gave Blizzard his best plastic grin.  "Ya know, as great and as much fun as that sounds, I think I am going to have to say... no to that plan."  Boxers swung his blade up into a high cross defensive stance and then forced a smirk at Blizzard.  "Instead, how about I introduce you to my sword.  It has been a long while since it has drank any Changeling blood.  It is the sword that killed Frieza and caused Kold's death as well you know."

If there had been a non-menacing part about Blizzard it went away after he heard Boxers brag.  'Ok, Roshi's coming now... come on hurry up.'  Boxers thought as he desperately tried to think of something to stall for more time with.

Blizzard glared at him.  "You monkeys are all the same.  I am not falling for your brag.  I have met your Super Saiyan and found it lacking.  Why should I fear a sword when it is held by a foolish smelly vermin such as yourself?"

"Fine, you want to fight?  Just you and me then?  No problem, just keep the two goons back and we can dance all you want."

Blizzard gleamed.  "Oh no, what ever gave you the idea that I like a fair fight?  I think if that sword is as dangerous as you say, then you might as well fight all of us at once."

'Oh fuck!'  Boxers thought as he turned the sword to deflect a ki blast with the haft of the blade before throwing his left hand out past the hand guard and returning fire with his own green blast of ki.

A quick slash with back and down towards his right ankle stopped Ice from kicking him as she pulled up short to avoid being sliced but the slashing up cut Boxers made when he returned the blade to a high left cross guard position to block another of Blizzard's ki blasts.

A quick back flip later and he had jumped over a sweep made by Thunder only to awkwardly on the ice.  Boxers slipped and went down hard onto his rear.  Had he had a normal tailbone like a true human would have, he would have probably broken it, as it was he only jammed his spine.  

No longer on his feet, he could not move fast enough to avoid being hit by the follow through sweep made by Thunder.  Thunder kicked him in the small of the back, hooking his foot under Boxers's right armpit and launched him directly into Blizzard.

Blizzard hammer punched him and caught him right above his left temple.  Boxers felt his head swim as his vision went red and then black for a few seconds.

"Tisk Tisk, it would appear as though you dropped your sword."  Blizzard said when Boxers vision cleared.  Blizzard smiled evilly down at him while brandishing his sword and swinging it in wide arcs through the air.

"So you think you've won?  Simpleton."  Boxers spat as he tried to get back up, only to be forced down again by both Ice and Thunder.

"Not only have I won, but I think I will have fun cutting you apart piece by piece."

"I don't think so."  Tee said suddenly as he landed a heel kick into the bridge of Blizzard's nose, and knocked him back.

Blizzard stumbled on the ice and only his long tensile tail kept him from going down.  These few moments of surprise were more than enough for Boxers to slam his elbows back and into the unsuspecting stomachs of the Changelings behind him.

"Kaio-ken times twenty!"  He screamed suddenly, and he felt the blood boiling heat of the Kaio-ken surge through his body.  His muscles bulged and grew painfully taunt as he reached back over his shoulders with both hands to grab the horny heads of the two Changelings who had been holding him down.

Boxers had always been somewhat double jointed.  This combined with the surge of need within him allowed him to yank both Thunder and Ice over his back.  Without changing his grip he twisted them through the air to slam their heads directly into the pavement before he rolled forward over them.  He quickly changed his grip so that he wouldn't snap his arm, and then used his forward rolling momentum to roll back up onto his feet.  As he stood back up, he hammer threw both of them into a large granite and marble wall 120 meters away from him.

A resoundingly sickening sucking like popping noise was made by both of his shoulders as he forcibly pulled his arms back into their sockets.

"Teach you."

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Blizzard spoke as Boxers slowly started to turn in that direction, "foolish of you to forget your real opponent."

Too late Boxers realized Blizzard was brining Trunks's sword down over his head in an overhead slice.  Too late, he realized he could do nothing to stop it.  Too late, he realized he didn't even have time to get out of the way.  Too late, he realized he was about to die.

A brilliant flash of yellow seeped through eyelids Boxers had not realized he was closing.

"Advice you should take yourself Blizzard."  Roshi said calmly.

Boxers opened his eyes.  Roshi stood beside and a touch in front of him.  His right hand was holding the sword still while his left began to charge with blue ki.

Blood welled between Roshi's thumb and the blade of the sword.  It trickled down the blade and slowly dripped off of the hand guard.  If Roshi noticed that the sword had cut him, he did not give any indication.

'That was too close for comfort.'  Boxers sighed with relief.  "About time you got back here."

* * *

Roshi did not acknowledge Boxers comment as he glared down into Blizzard's eyes.  He tightened his fingers on the blade of the sword heedless of the pain as the blade bit into his palm.  "This is where you let go of the sword or it starts to hurt."  He said as he thrust his left hand with the arcing blue glow into Blizzards face.

Blizzard let go of the sword.  "But how!  I killed you!  I killed you and that bitch!  And that spiky purple haired freak!  I felt his neck break!  You can't be alive!"

Roshi flipped Boxers's sword back so that he could catch it by the hilt.  "You know, this isn't the first time someone told me what I did was impossible."  He replied snidely while realizing he had forgotten Blizzard couldn't track ki.  

'How was I supposed to lead him away from the city when he thought I was dead? Stupid of me.' Roshi scolded himself as he glared up at Blizzard, "and you know, I doubt this will be the last time either!"  

"Yeah!"  Tee added, "next time you try to kill someone do it right!"

'Must you open your mouth Tee?' Roshi wondered as he forced himself to not break eye contact with Blizzard.

Blizzard turned to glare at Tee and curled his black lips into a terribly deformed smile.  "Big words for someone who hides behind his friends!"  He said as he scanned the area.

Roshi could sense Ichigo was having a good fight with Ice and Thunder, the two Changelings were being beaten back, but by working together they were actually holding their own fairly well.

"Tee, go help Ichigo."  Roshi said, knowing he needed to keep Tee from saying any more thoughtless comments.

"Yes, go run away little monkey.  I don't know how you survived having your neck snapped like a twig, but next time you..." A sudden flash of realization passed through Blizzard's eyes.  "It was the Green one!"

Blizzard jumped.  Roshi tried to jump with him, but with the weights still on he was too slow.  He reached out his hand to block the purple ki blast, but it shot past his out stretched fingers.

"Watch out! MOVE!"  Roshi yelled towards the Namekian Healer as he turned in the air, while wishing he had taken the time to get to know them better.  He couldn't tell which one this was.

Boxers was darting towards the healer, in an effort to cut off the blast.

The Namekian healer had been watching the battle from near the pile of bodies where he had healed Tee.  Realizing his danger, he started to move, but not nearly soon enough.

The purple ki blast hit him.  

Roshi gave up any hope for the Namekian to regenerate when the purple energy washed over his body and ripped him apart.

Blizzard was cackling with laughter.  "There!  Now you cannot be healed.  There will be no coming back when I am done with you!"

Roshi turned to glare at him through over the 20-meter distance that now separated them.

"Is that so?"  He said sounding far calmer than he was.  With a jerk he ripped off his wrist guards.  Moments later his boots fell to the ground with a clunk.

"So you were wearing weights?  Do you really think dropping a little weight will make... Guhh!"

Blizzard's commentary was cut off by a Ki Punch powered uppercut to the stomach, which was followed in quick succession with a left hook to the side of the jaw.  Blizzard's jaw popped, but did not break as he was thrown to the side and crashed into the snow-covered ground.

Roshi didn't give him time to recover as he leapt through the air in an attempt to land on the Changeling.

Blizzard barely rolled out of the way before Roshi landed, and could not escape the kick to the ribs, which sent him careening around the partially destroyed coliseum, like stadium the two now fought in.

Blizzard got up and threw a huge ball of red ki at Roshi.  By the time it got to him, it was easily twice as big around as he was tall.  He set his feet and slapped it with open hands back at Blizzard.  The Changeling tossed a small ki blast at it and it blew up about half way between them.  The explosion excavated a large hole into the ground and threw up a large amount of dust.

'He can't see me.'  Roshi thought as he darted in an arc to the left and shot out of the cloud of dust to slam into Blizzard's right side.  Blizzard was launched through the air only to crash through a granite pillar.  The pillar collapsed and a large section of the upper deck of the stadium fell on Blizzard.

Roshi sensed a ki blast moments before it would hit him in the back of the head, so he flipped forward in a complete front flip and soccer kicked the blast into the pile of ruble that had buried Blizzard.

"That's impossible!  How could you know that was coming?"  Thunder cried when Roshi landed and turned to look up at him.

"Things that are impossible are simply things that are beyond one's understanding.  Every time you say that word it only goes to show how feeble and stupid you Changelings truly are."

"How dare you!"  Thunder screamed as he suddenly started to rapid-fire ki blasts at Roshi.

Roshi would have liked to have only dealt with Blizzard at the moment, but he realized that Chill was back and in his fourth form.  Ichigo, Tee, and Boxers were busy with him and Ice.  Which left Thunder and Blizzard to Roshi.

'I hope the other's can handle things themselves.' Roshi thought as he swatted several of the minute yet powerful ki blasts away from him.

* * *

Goshu blocked a ki blast and kicked the warrior who had sent it in the ribs.  Several sickening crunching pops and a burst of blood out of the warrior's mouth later, and he had one less warrior to fight.

Slip was braced against a large stone outcropping behind him.  Every once in a while he would let someone past, and she would take care of him or her, but for the most part she simply fought to stay conscious as the poison worked to knock her out.

The Chartashan had not shown back up.  After inciting the flood of warriors who seemed all too happy to die, he had simply vanished into the crowd.

A female looking warrior with four arms soon joined the pile of dead that was building up at under Goshu.  Originally he had been standing, but was now flying above the rapidly growing pile.

The fight disgusted him.  Life was precious and it was almost a crime to be killing so many so fast.  They had no hope of beating him, yet they threw themselves into battle out of fear.  They either had to fight him and die trying, or be killed by Blizzard for running from battle.  He knew it was too much to ask for any of them to hope Blizzard would be beaten.

A large ki caught his attention as Nail suddenly landed behind him and set Max down at Slip's feet.

"Looks like you have been busy."  Nail said calmly as he floated up beside Goshu.  

The appearance of another fighter beside Goshu stopped the crowd of warriors for a moment.

"Nail!  I..."

"I know, I saw you help Slip away.  Things happened fast.  I do not hold anything against you.  We all knew the risks."

"Then how?"

"I was helped.  Not all of Blizzard's army is here because they want to be.  Most are slaves.  Some even want to be free."

Goshu looked around.  "Well, where are these warriors who helped you then?"

"I sent them to their ships.  I saw that Chartashan fleeing towards the North, all that is left are these idiots who fight for no reason."  Nail said with a menacing snarl, at the collected group of warriors.

Goshu chuckled grimly, somewhere on this planet there were 200,000 warriors left in Blizzard's army.  Only someone like Nail could call that **_All that is left_**_._

The wall of warriors must have realized this too, as with that, they rushed Goshu and Nail.

Nail sent a makkansappo out to destroy a large number of them, but the tide kept coming.

Kienzians only slowed the flow.  Kamehamehas did likewise.  The two warriors fought side by side above the ever-growing pile of the dead.

* * *

It had been eighteen days.  Eighteen of Saiya's long thirty-six hour days had passed since Ichigo had been forced by her father to flee before the Changelings could land. 

Those eighteen days had been the longest in Momo's life.  She saw more carnage on the day of the attack than she had thought possible.  Because of all the deaths she had suddenly been trust into the unlikely position of Regent.  Until her death, Ichigo's return, or the destruction of Saiya, she would hold a position that she never dreamed would be hers.  Momo was a teacher, a healer, but mostly, she was not a warrior.  The same wave of disease that had eventually lead to her sister Nashi's death had weakened Momo in her twelfth year.  She lost her chance at a Trial.

In a way Momo had always resented how that chance had been stolen away from her.  The fact that it had been a fluke microbe that mutated into harmlessness shortly after only made it more painful.  She had always wanted a chance to do more.

When the Changelings attacked and the world changed overnight, she suddenly found herself laughing at her own former ambition.  She had panicked.  Realizing they could not survive if they continued to fight she gathered those who would help and got as many of the children as she could into the catacombs.  There in the deep network of tunnels and vast passageways they had hid like bugs.

She had lost twelve of the remaining warriors on food runs this past week.  The situation had gotten desperate.  When Sakura had not returned for a full day, Momo had almost broken down.  But she couldn't.  She had to be strong.  She had to carry the weight.  Besides, even if she were not a warrior, such a display of emotion would have been unthinkable.

When she had been summoned because a powerful warrior had been detected following Sakura back to one of the more secure gates, Momo had been certain they were going to have to blow the gate.  The only powerful warriors left had been Blizzard's.

But Sakura had tapped the all-clear code on the door.  

Sakura was leading a warrior who had come to Saiya with Ichigo.  Ichigo was still alive!  She was still alive!

Momo had to fight back tears of joy as she attempted to question the strangely dressed teenaged warrior.

That he was clearly a teenager worried her slightly, but as long as Ichigo was alive it didn't matter if he was just a teen.  It didn't matter if the Vegeta Rebels would replace Blizzard as conquerors of Saiya.  As long as Ichigo was alive there was still hope.

Then the youth had basically snubbed her and flown off without telling her anything.  Momo watched as the blonde haired youth vanished over the horizon.  "Rather ill behaved and rude wouldn't you say?"  She asked Sakura.

"Ah, I would say that he feels his duty to his companions supersedes any duty to us."  Sakura replied honestly.

Momo narrowed her eyes.  "Those with my niece, they were descendants of the Vegeta traitors?"

"That is what she said."

"Can they be trusted?  Was she under duress?"

"May I be frank?"  Sakura asked cautiously.

"Yes, by all means please do."

"Ichigo...  She has been through a lot.  But I feel she trusts them.  Besides, the one who came here with me, he didn't talk much, but he healed me somehow.  We ran into Blizzard, and the one the Princess," Sakura looked up, "I am sorry, it will take some time to get used to calling her Queen.  There is one she called a Super Saiyan.  He did something and knocked the Changelings back as though they were nothing."

Sakura clenched her fists and her knuckles popped.  "I got caught in that attack, and I woke up in a ship with Boxers as he called himself.  Boxers gave me food this strange outfit."

The girl moved her hand back through her short spiky hair.  Her hair quickly sprung back to its natural right slanting mass of spikes.  "I was captured.  These brutes... I... I could not do anything to stop them.  They were so much stronger than I am.  They taunted me and told me with all the glowing details what they were planning to do.  They were ripping my armor off.  Then the one Ichigo said was a Super Saiyan appeared and diverted their attention and Ichigo killed them with ease.  The one that healed me gave me his coat as I spoke with Ichigo.  This is kindness I would not expect from my fellow warrior, let alone a Vegeta Rebel."

Sakura shook her head.  "These warriors do not dress like Saiyans, they do not act like Saiyans, and they do not fight like any Saiyan I have ever known.  They do not even have tails!"

The moment Sakura finished speaking Momo knew she had said something she did not want to.  A look of fear mixed with revulsion passed over the young warrior's face.

"How can this be?"  A warrior named Kaki yelled aghast at the very thought.

'No Saiyan would ever remove their tails.  These cannot possibly be descendants of the Vegeta Saiyans.'  Momo realized.  'But if they are not, who are they?'

"Oh no! I am sorry!" Sakura suddenly gasped.  "I have forgotten something vital.  I talked briefly with your niece and she gave me this.  I do not think she wanted the others to see that she had given it to me.  It is called a capsule.  From what Boxers told me one need only push the button toss it down and stand back.  It will then open.  As I have no idea how large it is I would suggest doing this outside.  Boxers indicated that one could put very large objects such as ships into a capsule."

"Oh really?  This aught to be interesting."  Momo replied as she looked at the small vial shaped object Sakura had handed over.

"And you did not bring this up right away?"

"I am sorry, I forgot."  Sakura replied sounding abashed.

"See to it, you do not in the future."  Momo replied as she headed for the door.  'Hopefully this will explain a few things.'

Off in the distance there was a huge explosion.  The ground shook and several of the damaged nearby buildings finally collapsed.  "How strong would you say this so called Super Saiyan is?"  Momo asked pausing at the door.

"I could not say, I did not have a scouter, but he sent the Changelings flying off of him as though they were powerless in comparison."

"And the rest of the warriors?  How many did my niece bring back?"

"There were only three others Ma'am"

Momo relaxed.  'Then this is not an invasion force.  Not even the Blizzard would attack us with only three warriors.  That is good, but at the same time, only three others?  Who are these mysterious warriors?  I cannot accept that they are actually Saiyans.  But what if they are?  What would cause them to willingly remove their tails?  Or are these outcasts?  That could be.'

Momo nodded to herself.  'Yes that makes sense.  Ichigo could not get help from the real rebels, so she got it from the outcasts.  So what do the Outcasts want?  Why are they helping?'

Momo grimaced and walked a good distance from the entrance just incase.  'I never did agree with her father's plan in the first place, that she has survived is not reason to celebrate yet.'  She thought as the sounds of distant fighting rumbled off the landscape.

Momo clicked the button on the capsule and threw it.  It bounced twice and then landed before exploding with a smoky white cloud.  Momo had been on such an edge, that she probably jumped a meter into the air at the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, a hologram of Ichigo stood dressed in her Regal Armor with the blue cape above a small red heart shaped object, which was obviously projecting the image.

"Hello, this message is for my aunt Momo, or whoever may still be in command.  I am recording this message in what had formerly been Snow's vessel as we descend to land on Saiya.  I know I have been away too long.  I know there are very few of you left.  But I also know you have survived."

"For this, take pride.  However, I have a message and orders that may seem distasteful to many of you.  I will not have happen to Saiya what happened to Chartashia!  The Changelings removed everything they could and them blew up the planet.  I do not doubt Blizzard will try to do the same to Saiya here today when we confront him with a Super Saiyan."  

Ichigo stopped talking and stared out as if the hologram could actually see the people who had gathered around it.  "Yes, you heard me correctly.  The legend of the Super Saiyan is true.  Snow came after me.  In the battle on Earth, the descendants of the Vegeta Rebels home planet, Son Roshi, heir to the Vegeta line became a Super Saiyan.  He was not the first.  Over 500 years ago there were several of them and they defeated Kold and his sons."

"While I do not doubt our ability to beat Blizzard, I am hereby ordering a full evacuation of Saiya.  The Humans who populate Earth are very technologically advanced.  We have brought food, medical supplies but most importantly ships.  Once the battle is over and it is safe to return we will.  Saiya is our home and we will not abandon it.  However at this time the life of our race must be placed above our own personal pride.  You have survived the long night.  Evacuate now and let me carry the fight."

"The long dark night is over.  I have returned and with the aid of those we once banished the new dawn will rise.  I know what I have ordered is distasteful to many of you.  If you will not do this for me, I ask that you do this in memory of my father who is no doubt dead by now.  Use the ships.  Evacuate the planet."  

The hologram blinked out of existence and the lights, which had been flickering on the heart shaped thing died.

"Ridiculous!  Why would we run now?" An elderly warrior named Che yelled from the back of the crowd.

"Did you see!  Did you see that travesty?  She was a coward to leave us and is a coward in returning.  She does not even have her tail any longer!  I refuse..."

"Shut your traitorous mouth!"  Sakura suddenly screamed above the din of noise that was starting to build.  "King Kudamono ordered her to leave.  She had no choice.  Few of us have had any choice since Blizzard came.  I saw the Super Saiyan!  She has come back and she deserves our loyalty.  I for one am going to do as she says!"

The crowd of people started talking amongst themselves again.  It looked like the dissenting voices were far more numerous than those who agreed.

"Why should we follow her?  She did not suffer with us.  Her father protected her from the brunt of it.  We all knew she would never measure up!"

"She is in league with a bunch of traitors!  I am not about to forget the blood that is on their hands!"

Momo had had enough.  "That is it!  Those warriors who are still here are free to make their own choices.  However, the children are being evacuated as per her orders.  Once the children are safely away you may do what you wish."

Momo knew that evacuating the children would require most of the adults to go with them.  There would be few who would be able to choose to stay behind now.

No one moved as Momo walked over to retrieve the heart shaped thing.  "You heard me not get a move on!  We have children to evacuate!"  She screamed before turning the hologram player upside down to read what it said.  'A Love-gram for my precious Pan, May you always cherish our memories.  Love always, Ubuu.'  Momo frowned.  "Oh Ichigo, what kind of people did you find to save us?"

An explosion off to the East suddenly and blindingly lit the sky brighter than the sun.  It took the ground nearly half a minute to stop shaking.  'Hold in there Ichigo.  Now that you are back, give us time to get the children to safety.'

* * *

Kit could not believe the carnage she was seeing as she flew over the wreckage of the destroyed Lander.  The crater the explosions had created was at least ten km across and several hundred meters deep. 

"Are you ready for drop?"  She asked the two Namekians.  The Phoenix's Landers where really just huge aircraft capable of space flight.  They had several large compartments, which could be sealed from the rest of the ship.  The Namekians after hearing what had happened to the previous ship had requested they be dropped before she landed so that if worse can to worse at least one of them might survive and help.

"Yes" both replied via the intercom. 

She thanked the wind, which had blown the dust cloud to the Southwest and over the large build up of warriors that now battled with Goshu and Nail.  

The dust would make it far simpler to sneak in.  Turning the Lander in a wide arc over the battle she told the computer to open the back hatch.

One of the Namekians jumped out.

She then carefully directed the Lander to the opposite side of the crater, away from where the fighting was happening and near the large Prisons that now held the captured Saiyans.  The other Namek got out there.

She then proceeded several more km away to a soft landing in a semi-protected area behind a bluff.

Kit carefully checked the ki radar for anything that might be dangerous in the vicinity and found nothing.

"I don't know why Roshi was so against me coming down here anyway.  Everyone is so busy with Goshu and him, I can just sneak right by and release the Saiyans."  She said to herself sounding quite smug.

Kit got out of the cockpit and quickly walked down the stairs to the main hold.  "Computer normalize air pressure and open the hatch."

Kit's ears popped as the air pressure suddenly increased.  'Aahh, you would think with something as advanced as the Phoenix, the Landers would be a bit slower at normalizing air pressure.'  Kit thought to herself as she dug in her right ear with a pinky finger.

"Normalizing gravity to planetary standard."  The computer's female voice reported monotonely.

'What the?' Kit suddenly felt the blood start to flow out of her head as she started to become quite a bit heavier than normal.

"Gravity at 2 Gs, 2.1, 2.2... 2.7" The computer continued to count up as the gravity in the ship relentlessly increased.

"This is getting intense."  Kit said to herself realizing she was suddenly worried.  She could no longer stand after the gravity reached 3.4 and she fell to her knees.  "Computer stop!" Kit gasped as the ship started to fade to black.  "Stop the gravity!" She cried one last time before slipping and banging her head into the deck plates.

The last thing Kit saw before the world of Saiya went black was the gravity suit hanging in its locker near the hatch.

* * *

The dark black ball of ki shot at Roshi and followed him like a heat seeking missile.  After about three full seconds of being followed Roshi looped around and dove at Blizzard.

"You think I'm dumb enough to fall for that?  Have another!"  Blizzard yelled as he tossed another black orb of ki at Roshi.

Roshi smirked and continued to dive right at the new ki blast.  "Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HAAAAA!" Roshi screamed moments before he would have had a head on collision with Blizzard's attack.  His Kamehameha propelled him to the side and allowed the two ki blasts to run right into the blue beam.

Purple bolts of energy arced between the two flattening spheres as the Kamehameha ballooned out to encompass the two orbs.

The orbs exploded along the vertical axis of the Kamehameha beam.  A double ring of dark purple energy sliced out to carve two deep gashes into the ground as the disks of ki expanded outward.

Roshi just barely moved out of the way as the disk closest to Blizzard nearly sliced his arm off.

As it was, Roshi just completed his spin and stopped facing Blizzard.  "No, but you are dumb enough to blow up your own attacks."

"How dare you mock me!?!  I am Lord of all Changelings!  You will pay for this insolence!"

Roshi glanced over his left shoulder.  'What the hell is that yellow one doing?'  He thought as he saw Thunder was still in his third form and he was still just standing there watching him fight Blizzard.

The fact that one of the Changelings was just standing back and not doing anything was unnerving.  It suggested that they knew something more than he did.

"I mock you because you are evil."  Roshi said as delivered a perfect spin kick to Blizzard's left cheek.

"I mock you because you have no heart."  Roshi screamed as he slammed the base of his left palm into Blizzard's sternum and drove him back.

"I mock you because you revel in your own wickedness and feast on the pain of others!"  Roshi yelled as he threw two Masenkoes at Blizzard's feet.

"I mock you because you are nothing compared to me!"  He taunted as he landed on Blizzard's head and drove him face forward into the frozen ground.

"I mock you because in this day you will meet your downfall!"  Roshi stated as he reached down and grabbed Blizzard's tail.

"I mock you because I am not afraid of you!"  Roshi punctuated the last statement by swinging Blizzard into the ground several times before throwing him into the air.

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAA!!!"  Roshi screamed sending a huge blue white beam up at where he had thrown Blizzard before clenching his right hand and holding it to his chest.

He missed.

Blizzard had simply vanished into thin air.

Roshi forced himself to control his breathing and reach out with his ki.  He glanced right and then left before realizing Thunder was no longer watching the fight.

"Where the heck is Blizzard?  He can't even sense ki.  How can he possibly hide it?"

Something like a lightning bolt through his brain suddenly warned him that Blizzard was behind him.  Roshi forward rolled out of the way and popped back up to spin around and...

Blizzard was huge!

Five shinning black spines shot from triceratops like crown on his head. Huge hooked barbs grew out of his fore arms and massive spines shot off to the side from each of the armor plates above his shoulders.  His tail was even longer and was tipped with a sharp bony spike.

'Shit, a fifth stage!'  Roshi gaped. 

Blizzard put one enormous red foot in front of the other before bowing with his arms to his sides.  "You like my forth transformation?"  Blizzard laughed in a deeply menacing timber.  "I do too.  I do believe ripping you apart will be fun."

"Oh, nothing good can come of this."

* * *

"Plasma Beam!"  Ichigo screamed as her aura flared a brilliant red, fueled by the power of a Kaio-ken times fifteen.

The enormous pinkish beam shot out and slammed into the brilliant green beam he had sent out moments before.

'Ok, not to long or I'll hurt myself,' Ichigo warned herself before she concentrated and pushed the Kaio-ken to times twenty.

The sudden bulge in her beam shot out from her hands and engulfed the smaller green beam.

The blazing hot beam rolled over Chill and forced him back.

'Should have used the Kamehameha.  It is better for a show down.' Ichigo realized as she tried to catch her breath in the frigid air.

A multitude of tiny blue-green beams shot from the smoke that was surrounding Chill and slammed into the ground where Ichigo had been standing.

Ichigo moved around to the side and launched a huge Star Ripper directly at where Chill floated.

The smoke cleared moments before the jagged ball of ki blades hit Chill.  He saw it but not soon enough as the turquoise blades of ki bit into him.

Lacerations now covered Chill's body.  Purple-red blood oozed from the plethora of cuts while his formerly pure white and blue armor glowed a pinkish color from the burns sustained in the Plasma Beam.

"You pathetic little wench!"  Chill screamed at her before sending several rapid-fire Death beams at her out of his eyes.

Ichigo blocked them with the back of her hands, slapping them away to blow up on the ground beside her.  'Ack, those are stronger than I thought.  I singed my hand!' She was surprised to realize as the sent of slightly burned skin whaffed up to her nose.

Chill grimaced and then glared at her.  "You may think you are doing well, but you are nothing compared to me.  Let me assure you that while you are starting to breathe hard from your exertion, I have barely tapped my potential."

Ichigo glared at him but knew he spoke the truth.  Even with all the damage he had sustained, Chill's power level was not going down at all, where as she could not keep using the high level Kaio-ken's indefinitely.  'How can he stand the cold?'  She wondered as she carefully dodged another death beam.

'I need to end this now, before he gets any stronger.' She thought as she glanced in Boxers and Tee's directions.  The two were doing well tag teaming Ice.  

* * *

"Dang it we need to be stronger!"  Boxers yelled when Ice climbed out of the pile of rubble she had been thrown into.  "We have enough to knock her about, but not enough to take her down."

"Yeah, we need to do the Fusion man."  Tee said quickly after tossing several ki blasts towards Chill.  "That and we need to help Ichigo as much as possible.  I'm just glad I'm not Roshi.  He's taking on two of them at once."

Boxers pushed Tee out of the way and then leaped over the blood red half-sphere of ki Ice had lobbed at them.

"Yeah, but we need to make time for it before we can."  He said as he started to charge a Masenko.

Over to the south the old stadium where Roshi was fighting suddenly blew apart in a huge mushroom cloud.

"Holy shit!"  Tee yelled as he dogged a flying chunk of debris.  "I hope Roshi is ok!"

* * * 

Blizzard was laughing again.  It seemed he would laugh every time he even came close to hitting Roshi.  The large blast that had devastated the stadium had not gotten close to hitting Roshi, but it was still closer than he would have liked to have been to a blast of that size.

'He is really getting on my nerves.' Roshi thought while he waited for the dust cloud to clear.  'I really aught to be kicking his ass right now since he can't detect me in all this smoke and dust, but that is a lot easier said than done.'

Roshi's right hand was throbbing.  The cut he had gotten from Boxers sword was deeper than he had originally thought.  It had right across the muscles in the middle of his palm.  Not only did this make his grip in his right hand weaker, but it also affected how he could channel his ki in that hand.

The cut muscles and blood veins were combining to slowly make his fingers go numb.  Roshi wiggled his fingers and opened and closed his hand a few times.  "I don't like this.  I don't like this at all.  Blizzard is stronger and faster now.  And to make matters worse, I am not at my best."

Roshi was right handed and it was putting him at quite the disadvantage to suddenly be forced to channel most of his ki for ki blasts through his left arm.  He wasn't used to doing it, and therefore, it was less efficient than normal.

Several ki blasts whizzed past Roshi on all sides.  'Impatient are we?' Roshi silently asked Blizzard as he dove through the air to drive both feet into Blizzard's face.

Blizzard was knocked back, but he managed to reach up and grab Roshi's left foot.

Roshi felt himself being lurched through the air and thrown through a mass of fallen marble.

Roshi forced his way free of the rubble and searched for his options.  'Well, I didn't know how to do the Kaio-ken either, so who knows.' He shrugged as he thought to himself before raising his left hand and opening the palm to face directly at the on rushing Blizzard.

"BIG BANG!!!!"  Roshi screamed after concentrating a large amount of his ki into the palm of his hand.  By flaring his ki as much as he could he focused the natural yellow energy that was a bi-product of being a Super Saiyan into his hand.  The resulting loose beam of energy slammed into Blizzard and knocked him back.

'Yes!  It worked!  I can't sustain that like I can a Kamehameha, but it is possibly more powerful for short bursts!'  Roshi took whatever joy he could as he watched Blizzard pick himself off of the ground after being knocked from the sky by Roshi's attack.

Roshi jumped off of a fallen column of marble and almost slipped on a severed and frozen arm as Blizzard finally came at him again.

Roshi had to stretch his arm out in an attempt to regain his balance, which gave Blizzard an opening.

Blizzard reached in with both hands and grabbed Roshi about the neck.

"I tire of this battle.  I think I'll make you suffer while you fight for breath."  He replied before driving his knee deep into Roshi's stomach.

Roshi suddenly found himself with the wind knocked out of him and Blizzard's huge hands clamping down on his neck.  He couldn't breath, but more importantly, Blizzard had him in a choking sleeper hold.

Roshi reached up and tried to break Blizzard's grip with his hands, but with the cut across his right hand, he didn't have the strength to pull Blizzard off of him.  

'Thunderflash!' Roshi thought, 'I have to try the Thunderflash!  Roshi started to build up the oppositely charged energy needed for the attack, but he soon found that with the cut in his hand he could not build a large enough charge to be effective.  The more he tried, the more energy just bled back into him wasted.

Roshi's lungs were burning and he the world was starting to loose focus and spin.

Roshi forced his head forward and his hands up.  "Taiyoken!"  He screamed as the brilliant solar flare lit up the sky mere centimeters from Blizzard's eyes.

On reflex, Blizzard let go of Roshi and covered his eyes.  Roshi kicked off and away from the Changeling so that he could catch his breath.  He was just about to throw another close range Big Bang attack at Blizzard while he was blinded but a sudden sense of foreboding brought his senses into keen awareness of the other fight.

"Ichigo is in pain!"  He said with stark realization of the source of his foreboding.

Roshi gave a second look at the still blinded Blizzard and then shot out of the crater that had once been a Stadium to rush towards Ichigo.

Roshi shot over Tee, who was lying unconscious but seemingly not badly hurt.  Boxers was busy fighting Ice single handedly.

Which left Ichigo alone to fight both Chill and Thunder.  'I hadn't even realized he had left!'  Roshi noted with regret.

Ichigo was being held in a one-man rack body lock.  Chill had his legs wrapped around hers keeping her from being able to block while a full nelson type lock held her arms at bay.  

While Chill held her immobile, Thunder was beating her with everything he had.  He was hitting her in the face, chest, stomach, ribs, and basically wherever his fists might land.

Neither Changeling saw him coming.  Thunder pulled back his left arm to put his whole body into another blow.  

At the extreme back end of his swing, Roshi caught Thunder's wrist in his left hand.

"Leave her alone."  He said calmly to the bright yellow Changeling as he twisted his entire body to the right, jamming Thunders arm back and locking his shoulder.  Roshi slammed his left knee up into Thunder's armpit and a sickening crunch sounded as the Changeling's arm popped free of it's socket.

Roshi squeezed as hard as he could and managed to crush Thunder's wrist.

The Changeling screamed in pain and fell to his knees, unable to fight back.

Roshi didn't care as he stepped over Thunder's arm with his right foot and stomped down as he yanked up with his left arm.

Two more pops and Thunder's elbow had twisted back on itself and shattered.

Roshi yanked savagely on Thunder's left arm and threw him back towards where the stadium had once stood.

The entire confrontation had only lasted a few moments, but it had been plenty long enough for Chill to loosen his hold on Ichigo's arms while he stared at Roshi in shock.

Roshi looked up at Chill just as Ichigo drove both of her elbows into him and knocked him off of her.

"Are you ok?"

Ichigo coughed and felt her side.  "I think he might have cracked a rib, but otherwise I just hurt."  Ichigo looked at him curiously, "And Blizzard?"

"Is coming here now."  Roshi said nonchalantly as he jumped into the air and lobbed a Big Bang in Blizzard's direction.

* * *

Momo didn't know what to think of the Green men who had identified themselves as Namekians.  Sakura had gone to get them so that they could heal the wounded.  It was quite obvious that her earlier nondisclosure of how she had been healed was to keep uproar from happening.

It was almost sad how the few surviving warriors seemed to avoid even looking at the green men.

'They are blinded by their pride, and made stupid by their shame over what we are doing.'  She thought to herself as she watched Che step past a kneeling Namekian without even looking at the green man.

Momo, on the other hand was fascinated by the way the Namekian was actually healing people.  The small girl he kneeled over had gangrene developing on her leg yet had been too stubborn to let anyone remove it.  Now right before Momo's eyes the gangrene left and new healthy tissue grew in it's place in moments.

'I would have never thought such healing would be possible.  Had one of these men been here fourteen years ago I would never have missed my Trial, and Nashi would not have spent three long years growing weaker.'

"How are you healing her?"

The Namekian looked up.  "With my ki, and with her own.  All I am truly doing is speeding her body's own healing process."

"Can you teach others how to do this?"

The two little antennas on the Namekian's forehead wiggled.  "I would not know.  On Namek one is born either with the ability to heal, or the ability to become a great warrior.  I know of know one who is both."

Momo felt her sprits sink.  "So this is a natural ability?  You are born with it?  You didn't learn how to do this?"

"There, you are healed" The green man said to the young girl.  She carefully poked at her leg for a moment before thanking him and running off to find a friend.

Finally the Namekian looked back at Momo.  "I have been a healer all my life.  I always knew how to do it.  I would not even know where to begin to teach you how I heal."

"Oh."

"Now if you will excuse me, there are many more sick and wounded who need my help here."

"Yes, of course."  Momo said before he walked off to find the next person to heal.

'I wonder if he is being honest or if he guards his abilities as thoroughly as we guard our own ability to fight?'  Momo shook her head.  'It does not matter.  I am thankful they are helping us.  I fear the price we will pay for this help, but we do need the help.'

Momo sighed and then looked over to Che who had just come into the room.  "The first ship is ready to launch.  The children will need protection.  I volunteer."

"Good, go."  Momo said before turning to follow Che outside.

* * *

Goshu was surprised when a Namekian healer named Aspersa suddenly snuck around the outcropping they had been pushed back against and started to heal Slip.

"Aspersa?  How did you get here?  I thought we left you on the ship."  Goshu asked and stated while not taking his eyes off the seemingly never-ending hoard of warriors that was attacking them.

"You did, but the Vulpine girl Kitsune, saw what had happened to your ships so she brought myself and Limax came down with her when she brought a new group of capsule ships."

For the first time Goshu thought that it might not be a good thing that the ships block ki so reliably when under power.  He had not even sensed them.  Now when he was actively looking for them, he could sense Kit in the ship yet, about 35 km away, and Limax near the holding pens.

Slip suddenly moved up beside him.  "Thank Dende for Kit!  I was certain I was going to die.  How can I help?"  She said as she knocked several incoming fighters down with a relatively weak Kamehameha.

Goshu narrowed his eyes.  Kit wasn't moving.  In fact, her ki seemed to be getting weaker.

"Go find out what is wrong with Kit, and then start evacuating the refugees."

A stray ki blast hit him in the stomach and burned off the last layer of his body suit.  'Please let Roshi be having better luck than this.'

* * *

The Sun broke through the clouds and nearly blinded Ichigo for a moment.  Then her eyes adjusted to the light allowing her to see Roshi kick Chill in the face before dancing back out of the way of Blizzard's Finger Blast beams.

'He is incredible.'  Ichigo thought to herself once again resenting how useless she was.  Blizzard had ordered Thunder away.  Boxers was still taking care of Ice with little problems, and Roshi was now fighting both Blizzard and Chill, which of course left her to stand there and recover from being too weak to do anything without Roshi's help.  Had Thunder not knocked Tee out with a lucky shot when he suddenly showed up, Ichigo would have felt even less useful.

A distant whine of something mechanical drew Ichigo's attention as a large egg shaped ship suddenly started to lift off from near the ruined Palace.  The sight of the ship fleeing chilled Ichigo's heart while at the same time lifting her spirits.  As long as the people survived they could rebuild.  The evacuation was a necessary evil.  Yet even knowing that could not remove the guilt that plagued her when she saw the ship running.

'We have been reduced to cowards and unneeded warriors.'  This is a terrible day for Saiya.

"Do you really think I am going to let them get away?"  Blizzard screamed before throwing a huge energy blast in the direction of the ship.

"NO!"  Ichigo screamed as she shot into motion.

* * *

Roshi watched with udder dread as the ki blast left Blizzard's hand.  'I can't stop it!'  He realized as he moved to stop the blast Chill sent after the ship moments later.  "Damn it no!"  Roshi yelled as he started to charge a small fast ki blast to chase it down.

Then he saw Ichigo racing towards the blast.  "No Ichigo don't, you'll kill yourself!"

The moment he said it he new his cry had been futile.  The people on those ships were her responsibility.  To her, it was better she die than for any one of them to come to harm.

A blinding flash and he felt Ichigo get knocked from the sky.

Blizzard was laughing again.

"You bloody, despicable, coward!"  Roshi yelled moments before he threw a roundhouse Ki Punch into the side of Blizzard's face.

Blizzard careened into the ground and created small crater that soon collapsed on him.

"Ice!  Forget that one!  If we don't stop this one we will all die!"  Chill screamed from behind Roshi.   Roshi spun and knocked the ki blasts back before launching a Masenko at Ice.

'Ichigo's still alive.'  Roshi realized with joy.  "This fight isn't over yet, you stupid lizards!"  He bellowed before charging at Blizzard who had just shot out of his hole.

* * *

Momo watched the first ship lift off.  It was carrying 221 survivors on it.  It was the first but it would not be the last.

A sudden flash lit the sky to the east.  Momo winced.  She didn't know why, but she was certain Ichigo had been caught in that blast.  She tried to put it behind her, but a deep sense of loss seemed to plague her.

"Kosho, take over for me, I am going over to see what is going on in that fight.  I will be back shortly." 

Kosho, an older warrior who had been forced to retire nodded gravely and then started to give orders for people to hurry up.

Momo did not want to be spotted so she stayed on the ground and slowly snuck up on the fight.   Soon she had reached what had once been the Administration Citadel for the Academy or Military Discipline.  It had once been one of the most impressive buildings on all of Saiya.  Now however, it was a hollow burned out shell.

Momo walked through it and reached a window that overlooked the old military coliseum, which had sat a kilometer and a half away.  The Coliseum was gone, replaced by a large crater.  

"Oh my word!"  Momo gasped as she realized the yellow glowing figure in the distance must be the Super Saiyan.

She realized he was fighting three Changelings at once and did not seem to be doing too badly.  Momo closed her eyes.  She could almost imagine sensing him move even without being able to see him move.  "Incredible!"

'But where is Ichigo?'  Momo thought with a panic as she started to scan the area for any sign of her niece.

* * *

Blizzard wrenched Roshi's arm around and threw him into the ground.  He bounced twice and landed near Tee, who was just starting to wake back up.

"Help... please" Roshi gasped as he spat blood before he quickly rolled out of the way before Chill could land on him.

He rolled into a front flip and then summer-salted in the air to land facing Chill.

"Dance while you still can Monkey!  It is only a matter of time."  Chill leered.

Roshi replied to the leer by kicking him in the face.  Chill bounced through several buildings and finally landed in a clump at the base of what had once been a large fountain.

Roshi sensed Blizzard coming so he spun to a stop and then turned to direct another Big Bang at him.

The yellow blast hit him in the center of the chest and knocked him back some.

"Why won't you die you miserable MONKEY!?!"  Blizzard screamed as he fell back and his back spines became stuck in a fallen metal statue.

Roshi jumped at him with a Ki Punch charged right foot.  The blue energy transformed his foot into a blue comet streaking for Blizzard.

At the last second Blizzard moved and Roshi crashed into and destroyed the monument.

Blizzard in turn cuffed Roshi as he passed with the side of his arm and ripped a gaping hole in the side of Roshi's gi.

Ice was trying to sneak up behind him, but Roshi sensed her coming.  He back-flipped over her and kicked Ice into Blizzard.  Blizzard knocked her away from him and charged at Roshi.

Roshi started to fly into the air when several ki blasts cut him off.

"You will pay for what you did to my arm!"  Thunder screamed to announce his arrival, while he charged a ki blast in his right arm.  His broken left arm hung shriveled and useless even after the transformation.  It hung there limply, but it didn't decrease the thread Thunder imposed.  

"Oh, no!"  Roshi gasped as he realized Thunder was now in the fourth stage, like Chill.  Two in the fourth stage, and Blizzard in the fifth.

"Nothing good can come of this!"

Roshi ducked down to kick Ice again and Thunder's ki blast shot right over him.

"You know you have to hit me before you can make me pay!"  Roshi sneered; glad he could still come back with something.

"I wasn't trying to hit you Monkey!"  Thunder mocked before he started laughing.

'Oh Dende no!'  Roshi thought as he spun just in time to see the ki blast slam into Boxers in the exact moment he and Tee finished their fusion dance.

There was a light poof of steam and then Boxee appeared.  Fat Boxee appeared.

"Oh no!"  Roshi gasped.  He realized he sounded defeated.

* * *

Ichigo came to with a splitting head ache.  She had slammed into Blizzard's blast nailing it on her left side.  All the armor right down to the skin was gone over her right shoulder.  Her skin was raw and chapped, but she was alive and otherwise unhurt.

She slowly stood up.  Her cape was hanging by only one chain off of her right shoulder.  She quickly unfastened it and let the tattered fabric fall to the ground.  She gingerly felt her mother's... Her pendant and found it to be in perfect shape yet, though much of the armor around it was cracked or pitted.

"I actually wish I was in my gi."  She said aloud to confirm to herself that that was actually how she felt.  The gi was surprisingly more resilient than her Saiyan Armor.

Boxee suddenly bounced over a pile of rubble in the distance and rolled down the opposite side.  Ichigo blinked several times thinking she was seeing something before she realized what she was seeing was the Fat Boxer that sometimes happened when the Fusion went wrong.

Ichigo watched in horror as Ice topped the hill of rubble and then deciding Boxer was no threat transformed into the next level and reduced the hill to slag.

Ichigo's head was still throbbing, but she had to move.  Roshi was now fighting four Changelings at once.

Ichigo took to the air and raced towards the battle.  

Roshi knocked Chill back, but was then grabbed by Ice.  She threw him into Blizzard who grabbed him and pile drove him into the ground.

"No!!! Roshi!! No!!"  Ichigo screamed as Blizzard rose into the air and then threw a huge beam brilliant purple energy down into the ground.

Nearly a 1/4 of a kilometer radius worth of ground was instantly destroyed as the purple beam hit and shredded the very planet itself.  A huge plume of ash and smoke rose into the air.

As she got closer she could hear Blizzard laughing.  "Nothing could live through that!  Nothing!"  He was shouting.

Ichigo knew better, Roshi was alive.  He was down, but not out.  She wanted to shout it, but knew it would only betray him if she did.  So she simply drove herself into Ice as fast as she could go.  Her Ki Punch charged hands wrapped the Changeling around them and nearly bent her in half.

Ice screamed in pain and fell most of the way to the ground before she regained control of her fall.

Ice started laughing.  "You will have to do better than that you fitly monkey whore!"

Ichigo was about to press the attack when Blizzard toe kicked full in the stomach.

The next thing she knew she was crashing though a marble wall and what was left of the Citadel was falling in on her.

There was a scream that was not hers.  Ichigo's senses suddenly went into high gear.  She knew that voice.  She knew that ki.

"Momo!"  Ichigo screamed.  "Momo where are you!?!"

This couldn't be happening.  It was her fault.  If only she had killed Thunder when she had had the chance.  He never would have transformed.  They could have killed Ice and Chill easily then.  And Roshi could have taken on Blizzard.   Everything would have been so simple.  'Why? Why?'  Her mind raged as she realized Momo was trapped under a fairly large pile of rubble.

Momo was all the family Ichigo had left.  She would never be able to live with herself if she let her die under a few tons of rubble.

"Momo I'm going to get you out of there!"

* * *

Roshi came to under a very large pile of dust.  He was choking in it.  Awareness shot through him like a bullet through a gun and he sat up in an instant.  The dust fell off of him and he could breath again.

Something was wrong.  Something was terribly horribly wrong.  He didn't know what it was but he knew something was wrong.

The Changelings weren't moving.  'Why weren't the Changelings moving?  All four of them with the exception of Thunder were still at their full power.  So why weren't they moving.'

"Ichigo!"  Ichigo wasn't moving.

"Ichigo move your ass!!"  Roshi screamed as he shot out of the crater he had been buried in.

* * *

Ichigo felt the Changelings gathering behind her.  She knew she was running out of time.  She had to move faster.  She had to save Momo.  She had to.  What good was saving anyone if you couldn't save your own family?  She threw blocks aside and rushed to grab lower ones.

Finally!  She reached Momo.  The way the building had fallen, Momo had been pinned between two large slabs of Marble.  Ichigo scanned the slabs.  She would have to move several other slabs to get the one she needed to move to more.

"Leave me!"  Momo practically hissed through short breaths.  "I was a fool to come here.  Don't die for me!  Move!  Leave me!"

"I can't! I won't!" Ichigo screamed back as she heaved one of the largest blocks away.

Behind her she felt the Changelings release their attacks.  All four at once, as one were attacking her.  

There! She had it!  Momo was free!  She grabbed her aunt, but there just was not enough time.  The ki blasts were on her.  She could not move fast enough.

And then... and then something grabbed her by the armpits and threw her forcefully clear of the fallen building.

Ichigo hit the ground and rolled.  She absorbed the shock and managed to toss Momo behind a large fallen column of marble near a no-longer sealed entrance to the catacombs.

Ichigo rolled upright at that moment and looked back.  The force of throwing her free had pushed Roshi down to his knees.  She saw Blizzards black Kienzian hit him in the back a moment before the other beams and balls of ki struck and enveloped him in a wash of pure energy.

* * * * * * * * * 

For those of you who do not get fireworks on the Fourth of July, this chapter will have to suffice.  To the rest of you, Happy Fourth!

Chapter 52 will be up sometime next week.

Please review.

Oh, and thanks to Mahonuts my website listed in my profile is actually working.  Go check it out.

Thanks, 

The Smooster. 


	52. Death of a Hero, Part One

Chapter 52

Death of a Hero, Part 1

Day One in the Month of Strength, 18:00

Blizzard's black Kienzian hit Roshi in the back a moment before the other beams and balls of ki struck and enveloped him in a wash of pure energy.

Ichigo only had a moment to throw her arms up to shield her face as she jumped down into the stairwell that lead down into the catacombs.

"Damn it Roshi NO!"  Ichigo screamed back out at the explosion as she fell to her knees.  

"Ichigo, I... I should never have come out to watch.  I am only in the way.  I am going back to get everyone off world.  Be careful.  Give us something to come home to."  Momo said quickly before she hurried deeper into the Catacombs.  

Ichigo didn't even hear her.  She was much too busy watching the explosion overhead die off.  Ichigo walked back out of the stairwell and onto the now smoothly decimated surface of the city.  She watched in mute horror as the dust and smoke slowly cleared.  She knew.  She knew the truth, but she wanted to see it.  She needed to see it with her own eyes.

The very wind of Saiya seemed to howl in pain in the sudden silence.  As the wind blew the smoke away, a tattered piece of Roshi's blue obi fluttered out of the cloud and landed a few meters from Ichigo's feet.

Ichigo took a step and quickly bent to pick it up.  She stood slowly rubbing the fabric past her thumb and forefinger as Blizzard's laughter slowly worked its way into her brain.  Ichigo shook.  Her eyes begged to tear, but the tears could not force their way past her suddenly clenched eyelids.

'He... He can't be dead.  Not now.  Not after everything.  He... just... can't be dead!'

Ichigo's mind instantly thought back over all the moments Roshi had had with her.  She remembered how after their first fight, she had woken with a sleeping bag covering her.  She remembered how he had agreed to teach her, and how he had been kind during that time.  She remembered how he had saved her from Banana, and how he had helped her to recover from that pain.  Then, there was how he had teased her and then taken her out flying on Icarus.  And also, there was the look on his face when she forced her way to town, even if it took being in that ridiculous outfit.  She though of how, when she woke up after almost killing herself in the ROSAT, it was his worried face that was the first sight she had seen.

Tears trickled out of her eyes to roll down her face, only to be evaporated in her aura.  Ichigo slid to her knees and gasped for air as she though about Roshi's actions during the fight with Snow, and all his words he had said, and written, and shared with her.

 "_I look at you when you smile and it almost takes my breath away.  I see the frightened Princess who is afraid to trust melt away and for a moment, for an infinitesimal moment I see you for who you are and the sight is marvelous to behold." _He had said.  

_You have the heart of a hero and knowing you has made my life better._  He had written.

'Roshi believed in me when I could not.  He saw me for more then I was.  He thought I was beautiful...'  

Ichigo cleared her eyes and looked up at the crater where Roshi had saved her just moments before.  Staring at that empty ki blasted hole in the ground, her mind played over the last few moments and reached the inevitable, inescapable, undeniable truth and conclusion:  Son Roshi was dead.  

In the core of her being, in her very soul, a vast empty vacant hole opened.  Through everything that she had blamed herself for, Roshi had been there to support her.  He had willingly supported her.  He had helped her when no one else would.  He had given her a second, and even third, or fourth chance.  He had been kind in all the moments she needed kindness.  He had helped her to believe in herself again.  He was someone she could trust.  But most importantly, he made her feel safe.  When she learned of how view Saiyans had lived, He was there.  When she had discovered her home destroyed, she had felt his support.  When she had found her father dead and no one had come to support her, Roshi had been there.  He was always there.  

Except, he was not there now.  Roshi was gone.  The safe feeling was gone.  Sucked into the void.   

'Nooooo!!!  He... he... Can't be dead.  He just can't.  I... I... I... loved him.  I LOVE HIM!!!'  The realization struck her like a rock shattering the windows into her soul.  The walls she had build to protect her from the pain of the last few months shattered and fell.  They evaporated as though they had never been there.  

In that infinitesimal moment, the shock of everything that had happened hit her.  The loss of so many friends, the death of her father, and now... now, most importantly the death of the one person she had truly, deeply, and honestly become to trust and need.  Her heart felt as though it were about to explode.  It hurt.  Oh did it ever hurt.

"I LOVED HIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  She yelled before she threw her head back and screamed out at the feeling of loss.

The moment she admitted to herself that she loved him, the slowly growing empty feeling in her chest became a piercing pain in her heart.  It was as though some great, clawed hand had ripped open her chest and clenched its claws into her heart, shredding it.  Bile filled her mouth as her stomach churned.  Her ears rang, and her head throbbed.  As the black hole that was consuming her heart and soul grew, the fist in her chest squeezed on her lungs and gouged her heart from her.   It felt as though it was pulling at her very soul.  It felt as though part of her was being ripped away and sucked into the void.

A burning pain took root within her.  It started in her heart and moved outward like a slowly burning brush fire.  Burning outward it seared though her arms and legs gaining speed and power like a well-fueled fire in a blast furnace.  The fiery hot pain consumed her until she felt as though her entire body was about to actually burst into flame.

All this while, Ichigo had been screaming.  She screamed out in pain and in loss.  She screamed out in anger and in bitterness.  She screamed out in rage.  Ichigo screamed like she had never screamed before.  As the few remaining buildings around her started to crumble, she screamed.  As the sky grew dark and the clouds billowed, she screamed.  As the ground below her began to crack and shatter and blow away as dust from an ever-growing crater, she screamed.   As the very planet shook and the dust and smoke billowed and circled around her like some great typhoon, she screamed.  As lightning played across the sky, she screamed.  As an unearthly yellow glow lit the ground and the sky and the clouds and the dust, she screamed.

Ichigo screamed until there was no more air in her lungs with which to scream with.  Her throat raw and her ears ringing she hung in the air.  Soon, the pain in her chest became one from the need for air, and not from the pain of loss.  Finally, when she could bear it no longer, she breathed.  She breathed in slowly, opening her eyes to glare at Blizzard.

In that breath and in those green eyes, the universe changed forever.

* * *

Something slammed into her face.  It hurt, a lot.  

"Hey, Slip that hurt!"  Kit complained as she blinked her eyes and brought her arm up to rub the side of her face.  She realized that her whole body hurt just about as bad as her head, which was throbbing from getting slapped by Slip.  The fact that the deck of the ship seemed to be vibrating didn't help anything.

"Well I had to wake you up somehow and patting your cheek wasn't working."

Kit rolled into a sitting position and quickly turned her head to throw up.

Slip jumped back and wrinkled up her nose.  "What the hell do you think you're doing down here?  Do you really have a death wish or something?"  

"Guhch!"  Kit cleared her throat and then spit on the deck.  "No!  I saw on the Phoenix that something had happened to your Lander and all the rescue ships and healers were lost.  You and Max weren't doing so great either.  I came down to help.  Why do you think I came here?  And why is the ship shaking like this?"

Slip's expression eased a touch.  "To that I thank you, we did need the healers, but you could have sent them down on autopilot.  That IS what the computer is for you know.  Besides how dumb are you to not even think about the higher gravity?"

Kit steadied herself against the shaking bulkhead.  "Fairly dumb it would seem."

"Yeah well get that grav-suit on.  It has a two hour battery, not that it matters."  Slip said as she looked down and shook her head as she closed her fist, popping her knuckles.

Slip blanched and for the first time Kit realized Slip looked extremely pale compared too normal.  She also had a rather greenish hue to her cheeks.

"Are you ok?  What's wrong?"

Slip's eyes were tearing.  She took a deep breath and calmed herself.  "The reason the ship is shaking is because the planet is shaking."

Kit jumped up with a start.  "Is it from the fighting?  Is it starting to break apart?  Roshi once told me that Namek eventually just broke apart after the damage done there."

Slip glanced away and shook her head.  "I... I don't know how to..." Slip stopped talking and looked away again.  "I... I think the ship is shaking because Ichigo is going Super Saiyan."

Kit blinked and tried to clear her head to make sure she had heard what she thought she had heard.  "Then why are you acting like something terrible happened?  Isn't this a good thing?"

Slip turned and glared at her for a moment before blinking a tear out of her eye.  "No!  It is not a good thing!  Didn't Roshi ever talk to you about Super Saiyans?"

Kit's ears almost touched as she thought about a conversation she had had with Roshi on the way to Saiya.  "He said that he wished it hadn't happened cause it hurt to much.  The price he paid for it was too much."  Kit shook the mental image out of her head.  It was one of the few moments she could remember Roshi ever acting with self-pity or weakness.  The conversations had happened shortly after the launch and Roshi had been his normal self ever since, so Kit hadn't thought much of it.

Slip started nodding, "exactly!"  She agreed.

"Exactly what?  I don't understand!"

Slip turned and looked at her with a look of pity.  It looked like she was trying to keep herself from crying.  "The price!  I'm sure you know that there is sorta this family tradition to keep diaries.  With the notable exception of Goten and Trunks Super Saiyan always had to have a price.  Someone had to die or in the case of Vegeta he had to finally accept that he had failed to best Goku.  It was the one thing other than Bulma's writings, in those damn diaries Roshi kept forcing me to read that really stuck with me, there was always a price."  She finished in practically a whisper.

An almost electric shiver caused Kit's fur to stand on end.  "A price?" she paused concerned, "what do you mean?  What has happened?"  She asked with dread.

Slip looked up at her with bloodshot eyes.  Kit had known Slip for years, and while she couldn't claim to be good friends with her, she had spent quite a bit of time around her.  Kit realized that this was probably the first time she had ever seen Slip cry.  The sight was un-nerving to say the least.  "Slip, you're scaring me.  What's wrong?"

"Roshi... Roshi is d... dead"

* * *

Pain.  Intense burning, brutal pain.  Then a flash of light.  Then nothing.  These are the things that Roshi remembered as he suddenly found himself standing on a road that appeared to be made of solid gold bricks.  The road lead to a large Kokyo style castle.  Both the castle and the road seemed to float above a mass of golden-yellow clouds.  Above him the sky blazed a bright pink without any sign of having a sun.

"How... very... strange."  Roshi said to himself as he looked around.  There seemed to be a line of little white wisps of clouds or something leading up to the Castle.  One of them floated by him and Roshi poked it to see what it was.  This elicited a loud squeal from the wisp and it sped away from him.  "This is not happening.  I got knocked for a loop and I am having a dream."  

Roshi started to pat himself down to see if he was all there.  Everything was find until he started to pat down his head and he found a ring like thing to be just out of his vision but directly above his head.  "What the?"

Roshi grabbed the ring thing with both hands and tried to pull it down.  It didn't move and no amount of his struggles could dislodge it.  "I wonder?"  Roshi said to himself as he grabbed onto it and then pulled both feet up.

"Ugh!"  Roshi blurted when he was rewarded for his attempt by landing firmly on his rump while still holding the halo.

Roshi closed his eyes.  "This is a dream.  I'm too young to die.  I'm too young to die.  I'm just knocked out again and dreaming.  I'm going to wake up and I'll beat Blizzard and everything will be okay."

Roshi opened his eyes.  "Nothing good can come of this." 

* * *

Ichigo floated above the crater in which Roshi had died.  It had been made larger by the energies of her Super Saiyan transformation.  It was poetic in a way, Ichigo decided that she now hovered above the focal point Blizzard had created.  She smiled menacingly as she decided that this would be nothing less than the ground zero of Blizzard's destruction.

Blizzard finally caught sight of her, and continued to laugh.  "Oh so you've changed now too?  This might actually be fun after all!"

Ichigo seethed, "There will be nothing fun about this day for either of us.  You will pay for all the things you have done!"

"The Legendary Super Saiyan was nothing but a joke.  You won't stop me.  Nothing can stop me!  Kill her!"  Blizzard shouted as he threw a black Kenzien at her.  Ice, Thunder, and Chill all three joined in to throw ki blasts at her as well.

Ichigo spun pirouetting over the various attacks.  She finished her spinning arc by snap-kicking Blizzard in the face.  He was taken by complete surprise and was knocked back.

Ichigo flipped over his back and kicked him where his tail joined his back.  It might not be as sensitive as a Saiyan's tail, but such an attack would surely hurt.

Blizzard finally stopped laughing as he was knocked out of the sky to bounce off of a slap of granite.  The Changeling Lord slowly got back up and turned to look directly at Ichigo.  "You petulant little monkey!  Just who do you think you are?  Your pathetic jabs might be strong compared to other weak races away, but I am a Changeling, and when I tire of playing with you today, you will die!"

Ichigo suppressed a shudder.  It had taken all four of them to kill Roshi.  Thunder was down by an arm, and Ice was slow.  Chill could be a problem, but the biggest task would be getting Blizzard to fight her one on one.  If she could do that, she might be able to wear him out and then take them down one at a time.

"Why don't you come prove just how strong you are then?  Unless, of course you are too afraid to fight a Super Saiyan by your self!"

Blizzard screamed and seemed to focus his ki.  It seemed that several of his already large spines grew as he bulked up a touch more directly before Ichigo's eyes.  "That's it!  You will pay for your insolence Monkey!"  He screamed as he charged at Ichigo.

Ichigo didn't want to test her Super Saiyan abilities by blocking a bull-rushing Changeling, so she quickly dove out of the way.  Blizzard tried to follow her down, but only ended up plowing into a pile of debris.

Obviously the other Changelings didn't believe in a fair fight.  Ice charged in from behind and to Ichigo's right, while Chill flew in from her left.

Ichigo jumped into the air and spun left to avoid Ice.  Ichigo spun through the air like a top and then opened up to deliver a perfect spin kick to the side of Chill's head.  Chill was tossed back and away from Blizzard who took the opportunity to attempt to hit Ichigo in the back.

However, Ichigo sensed him coming and dropped from her spin kick directly into a sweep and swept Blizzard's feet from under him.  She then cart wheeled to the side flipping over on her hands and then over onto her feet to avoid a full on charge from Thunder.

Thunder missed her and ended up driving his knee directly into Blizzard's gut.  Blizzard, who had been starting to get back up fell down again before launching Thunder into the air.

"That had best have been an accident!"  He screamed into Thunder's face before head-butting him and tossing him away.

Ichigo had watched Blizzard too closely, and almost got her head blown off by a huge ki blast from Ice.  Ichigo ducked at the last moment and it sailed over her head.  Infuriated by her miss, Ice threw another ki blast at Ichigo.  Ichigo saw this one coming and waited for it.  At near the last moment she ducked and rolled into a front flip.  She caught the huge green ball of ki with the backs of her knees and launched it back at Blizzard.

Blizzard was just starting to turn back from glaring at Thunder when he looked up and got smacked in the face by Ice's ki blast.

Blizzard got knocked back again and when the smoke cleared one could see a small trickle of pink-purple blood dribbling out of his nose.

"The next idiot to miss with a ki blast dies!  The bitch is mine the rest of you back off!"

* * *

Kit blinked.  After what felt like an eternity, she realized she wasn't breathing anymore.  She forced herself to take a long, painful, and ragged breath.  'This cannot possibly be happening.  This wasn't how it was supposed to happen!' 

Someplace between hearing what Slip said and registering what Slip had said, her brain chose to tell her that it wasn't possible.  Of all the things that Kit had imagined could go wrong, Roshi dieing just was not one of them.  It was inconceivable to her that he could die.  It just couldn't happen.

"That's not possible!"  She finally shouted.

The bloodshot teary-eyed and insanely furious glare that Slip gave her was nearly physical.  Kit stopped laughing, but she still didn't register the possibility that Roshi could be dead.

"Slip, you have to be kidding!  Roshi... Roshi can't be dead."  She said as her voice began to crack from the continued look of pain Slip seemed to be radiating.

Slip glared at her.  "You don't understand.  You can't feel ki.  I can.  I felt... I felt him... die."

Kit suddenly found herself very light headed.  "But... But how?  How do you know?  You could be wrong.  No, you have to be wrong!  Everyone talks about how Roshi is so good at hiding his ki.  Couldn't you be wrong?  Couldn't he just be hiding?  Come on; tell me that you could be wrong.  Tell me that he could be just hiding!  Roshi can't be dead, he just can't be.  He's... He's... Roshi!  Roshi can't be dead!  He just cant be!"  Kit suddenly blathered all at once in one long questioning statement.

Slip broke down crying again.  "You don't know.  You don't understand.  Roshi...  Oh!"  Slip said before hitting one of the bulkheads and denting it in a very Ichigo like anger reaction.  Slip turned and looked right at Kit.  Kit could not ignore the honest pain that now burned deep in the girl's turquoise eyes.

"I've always been able to sense ki.  I mean, I didn't know what it was.  I didn't realize I was even doing it.  It was like listening without hearing.  But I could feel it.  Goshu and Roshi only taught me how to recognize what I was sensing while we were in the ROSAT.  Now that I actually know how to sense it I can't imagine how I ever overlooked it before.  But... anyway... what I'm trying to get at is that I've always known Roshi.  I grew up with him.  He was like my brother."

Kit listening to every word, but at the same time she wondered if Slip had an aversion to getting to the point.  She never answered a question with a simple answer.

Slip choked down a sob and then turned to face Kit again.  "Look, I grew up with Roshi.  I've known him my entire life.  When he is around there is this... this... thing.  Look, I don't know how to explain it.  It's like, well you know the feeling on a cold cloudy day when the sun comes out and the moment the light hits you, it's suddenly warm?"

Kit nodded not completely understanding what Slip was getting at.

"Well Roshi was like that.  He was a warm glow that was always there.  But then, I... I can't explain.  All I can say is he's gone.  When... when it happened there was this flash... of... I don't know.  But he isn't hiding.  He's... He's gone.  I know he is."  Slip said before shaking her head and breaking down again.

* * *

Roshi slowly walked down the brick path towards the Kokyo style castle.  "This is surreal."  He said to himself as he poked one of the wisps and it squeaked at him.

Roshi walked through the large double doors, which lead into the castle.  Once inside he just about fell on his rear again.  Seated at a monstrously large desk was a huge red-orange man, who had gleaming green eyes, a thick beard, and wore a helm with three huge very sharp looking horns.

The giant looked at Roshi and scowled before he started flipping through a massive book.

"Oy! An w'at 'ave wee gots 'ere?"  He muttered sounding something like what a Scottish Pirate might sound.

Roshi didn't know what to say.  "I... ah... well..."

"Silance! Ah di'nah tell ye te talk new di Ah?"

Roshi clamped his mouth shut and watched as the giant flipped through the entire book.

"Bloody 'ell whare ta 'eck cou'd 'e be?"  The giant said without looking up.  "Whoow ah ye sun?"

Roshi was looking around the room at all the various odd things when he just about wet himself when the giant slammed his fist into the desk.

"Ah askt ye ah quest'on boy!"

"Oh ah... I'm sorry.  What did you want?  Ah sir?"

"W'as yer name boy?"

"Ah, Son Roshi, sir."

"Sun Rushee eh?" The giant flipped a few more pages.  "Ah ha'nt got cha lad.  W'ere ye beh from?"

"Ah Earth."

This information seemed to make the giant mad.  "Arth!  Arth? Thin w'a ye beh doo'n 'ere?  Geet yer arse o'r and both'r meh brot'er ov'r in yer 'own galxsee!"

"Your brother?  Um, could I ask who your brother is?"

The giant rolled his eyes as though Roshi were the dumbest person he had ever encountered.  "Lard Enma!"

Roshi suddenly felt very stupid as he realized he was speaking to a Lord Enma, not the same one that Goku had dealt with, but a judge of the dead non-the-less.

"Um, Lord Enma Sir, could you tell me how to get there?"

The giant pointed out one of the many doors.  "Get ye gone dan thet peth b'for Ah deem ye eh bother en send ye teh 'ell fer it!"

Roshi nodded and ran out the door.  Before once again stopping dead and staring at the scene before him with his mouth gapeing open.  "You have got to be kidding!"  He yelled to no one in particular when he saw the road before him.  It was a winding curvy path that seemed to stretch on forever.

Roshi shook his head.  "Why me?"

* * *

It was beginning to snow.  Large fluffy flakes fluttered down between Ichigo and the Changelings.  Had circumstances been different, it would have been a beautiful day.

Ignoring the snow, Blizzard put his head down and charged at her in an effort to possibly spear her on the end of one of the spikes that shot off of his forehead.  Ichigo simply sidestepped him and Ki Punched him over where his left kidney should be.

Blizzard grunted and finally came to a stop several meters beyond where Ichigo floated in the air.  "Damn you monkey bitch!  When I get my hands on you, I'll rip you to shreds!  No one makes a fool of me!"

Ichigo glared him down.  "Exactly, no one has to.  You are a fool.  After everything you have done you cannot possibly believe that calling me a bitch hurts me.  Far better warriors have called me far worse things than that in my time."

Blizzard threw several fist sized purple ki blasts at her.  Ichigo knocked them away and continued to glared down at Blizzard.

"That's it!  I'm going to make you suffer.  I took great delight watching your father starve to death.  I am sure I can have equal fun in your death!"

"My father was a great man, you pathetic excuse for life!  You can taunt me all you want, but I am beyond your ability to hurt.  You have hurt me all that you can already and I nothing you do can hurt me now!"

"We'll see about that!"  Blizzard screamed as he sent a huge red ki blast at her.

Ichigo backed away from it and moved to the side.  The ki blast followed her.

'Perfect!'  She thought as she moved around and let the beam of ki follow her.  Once she was certain it was locked on to her, she put on a burst of speed and then threw herself to the side.

The brilliant red beam slammed headlong into Chill.  It knocked him back and through a pile of snow.  When the steam and smoke finally cleared, Chill could be seen badly mauled by the beam.  Large rents in his natural armor bled and deep bruises could be seen starting to form.

"Does the missed ki blast thing apply to you too?"  Ichigo asked feigning innocence.

* * *

Kit had to force herself to breathe. "It's not possible.  Roshi can't be dead.  It wasn't supposed to happen like this.  He promised.  He..." Kit choked up when she realized what she was saying.  "I broke my promise.  It's..."

Kit almost blacked out as her head was suddenly ringing from an impact with a bulkhead.  Slip held her by the neck grasping either side of her jaw as to not choke her, but put a significant amount of pressure on her jawbone.  Needless to say it hurt almost more than the ringing in Kit's head.

"Don't even think of saying it!"  Slip spat into her face.  "I know you Vulpines nearly worship fate, but don't you dare even say it!"

Kit almost wet herself.  Never before had she been this afraid of another person.  Slip wasn't being rational.  Kit didn't need to be in the position she was in to realize just how dangerous an irrational Saiyan was.

"AAAHHH yeerrr brrrkinng meehh jeeewwhh!!" Kit was able to squeal out.

Slip blinked tears out of turquoise her eyes and then threw Kit to the floor.  

"Ouch!  What was that for?"  Kit asked as she rolled back onto her feet and rubbed her head.

Slip turned on her and glared.  "I had to make you shut up!  How dare you!  I mean how could you possibly be willing to say what you were going to say?  Even if you do practically worship fate, how could you betray him like that?"

"What?  Betray him?  I would never betray him!  He is my best friend!"

 "You tried.  You tired to make him into a victim!  Don't you dare make him into a victim.  Roshi didn't die because of fate.  Roshi was a hero!  Roshi was probably the best person either of us has ever known and I will not let you sully what he did by making him into a victim!"

"I!  I know he was a hero!  Roshi never was anything but a hero!  But I made him promise and then I broke my promise to him!"  Kit yelled back before she rubbed her jaw and winced as it popped back into its socket.  "But even so I can't just ignore fate!  I can't take the words back!  I can't claim that those words were never spoken!  Is that what you want?  For me to act like I didn't tempt it to act!"

Slip balled her fists and grimaced.  "No!  We all know what you said.  We all heard you.  Don't you just feel great knowing that the last thing you ever said to him was about some stupid promise?  Remember Mariah huh?  As if he didn't have better things on his mind than some stupid girl!"

Kit's ears and jaw dropped as her tail bristled.  "How dare you!  How dare you say something like that!  Mariah isn't just some dumb girl!"

"Whatever!"  Slip said as she waved the comment away.  "I'm... Look, Roshi was a hero.  He was always there no-matter what.  You may feel sorry for your words, but mine were worse.  I never really appreciated him, now he's gone and I have to live with what I said."  Slip glared at Kit.  "Well you want to know what my last words were?"  Slip said before looking away and kicking the bulkhead of the ship.  The metal rang with the impact and dented to leave an impression of Slip's shoe.

Kit nodded her head almost imperceptively, realizing that Slip was going to tell her regardless of what she said now.

Slip glared at Kit.  "Everyone was saying not to die and stuff.  I teased him via the comm. channel that on the bright side that dieing would probably be the only way he would ever get away from you, the nagging harpy."

Kit blinked and sucked in a breath in shock.  "Nagging harpy?  I am not a harpy!  What do you mean I nag?  I don't nag!"

"You do so!  When's the last time you did something for Roshi without having some motive or reminding him to do something in return?"

"Oh so now I'm not only a nag, but I'm only his friend because I can use him?  I hardly think that's fair.  When was the last time you did something for Roshi just because?  What can you give a guy who has everything?"  Kit glared daggers at Slip.

"Well you didn't have to nag on him like your life's goal was setting him up with that girl!"

"That girl happens to be one of his best friends.  All I wanted was for him to be happy.  He tried so hard to make other people happy was it that much of a sin to want him to do something for himself for once?"

Slip didn't reply she just glared back.

"This is stupid.  You are right.  Roshi was a hero.  He was one of the types of people that could change fate and choose their own destiny.  Our words may have been poorly chosen, but he chose his life.  The last thing he would have wanted was for the two of use to be bickering about him."  As she spoke the full impact of Roshi being dead finally hit her and she began to sob.  No longer able to stand she fell to her knees only to find Slip hugging her and helping her to stand as she to shed tears.

"You're right.  And as much as I wish I could just sit here all day we have people to rescue.  I can sense Ichigo... she's doing ok, but she can't hold out forever.  We need to be off this rock pronto.  Get into the grav-suit and then fly this ship over to the west.  There is a group of Saiyans hiding out about a hundred km from here.  See if you can't get them to leave the planet.  I'm going to the internment camp to help there."  Slip said as she grabbed a satchel of capsule ships and darted back out through the door.

* * *

Nail was getting tired.  There were just too many warriors to keep up with.  Far too many of the ki blasts were starting to get through to hit him.  Even though he fought beside Goshu never missing a beat, he could not possibly stop all the attacks.  He was doing well, but he knew he could not hold out too much longer.

The fight had been going well.  Well enough considering that they were being forced to kill hundreds if not thousands of warriors.  Then the two of them had felt Roshi die.

It was as though suddenly and irrevocably, the will to fight had left the two of them.

While Goshu was the group's leader, Roshi had been their heart in many ways.  The mascot of sorts.  Nail was cut almost as deeply by his young friend's death as he had been hurt by Piccolo's death.  

Nail let his mind wander some over his memories.  He was only a few years older than Roshi. Because of their close ages, Piccolo, Roshi, and he had always been sparring partners.  While both Nail and Piccolo had received some of the memories from the Piccolo who had lived trained Gohan, the three boys had mostly been taught by Goshu.  Nail was suddenly finding himself quite alone in what had been the only triad of companions he had ever had.

"Nail, if you stay much longer you will die."  Goshu suddenly grunted.

Nail scoffed.  "Some say death is a release, rather than a thing to fear.  I will not leave."  He was not about to leave his sensei.

"Your valor is noted, now go Nail.  Slip is moving again and she will need more help than Max can provide.  I will try to keep most of them busy over here.  Get as many people out of here as you can, then leave."

"What about you?"

"I will be coming, but if we are not off this world within an hour, we will probably be fighting Changelings.  None of us can stand up to them."  Goshu said as he released a huge ki blast and swept it through a mass of incoming fighters.

Nail sadly nodded.  Roshi was dead, the girl, Ichigo, was severely under-powered for a prolonged fight with Blizzard, let alone three other changelings, and Boxers and Tee seemed to be unconscious.  Things were not looking good for their rescue plan.

Nail was about to stay and fight when he realized a large group of the warriors they were fighting were heading towards Max, who was trying to free the detained Saiyans.  'May you live in interesting times indeed.'

As he left he could hear Goshu yelling.  "Is that all you idiots know?  Fear and death?  Do you have nothing to look forward to?"

Nail realized that Goshu was loosing control.  He was throwing massive ki blast, far too large to be sustained at a rate far too fast to leave him a reserve.  Nail had never once seen Goshu fight in a non-calculated, non-controlled fashion.  

Nail looked back one last time.  "You may plan to martyr yourself, but we will be back for you Goshu.  We cannot afford to loose you as well."

* * *

Roshi was flying above the golden roadway when a hand suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder.  Before he could even react, the clouds and the road shimmered away and were replaced by a very Earth-like world.

"Hi ya Roshi, come over here I have something to show you."

Roshi slowly turned to the voice and then fell down in shock as a huge sweat drop formed on the side of his head.  "Ya... Ya... You're Goku!"

Goku looked down at him with a puzzled expression.  "Yeah, and you're Roshi."

"But... but... but..."

Goku just laughed.  "Oh yeah, I always forget people get confused when I do that.  Ah... well welcome to the Kaioshin's planet."  He said as he swept his hand over the scenery.

"Goku!  What have you done?  Why is he here?"  A large purplish man with a sharp widow's peak and very long white hair yelled as he walked up.  "I told you that you were not to interfere with the fight below!"

Goku smiled and scratched the back of his head.  "But I'm not.  Roshi was already in heaven.  He's dead!"

'Wow, he's scratching his head just like dad does when he gets into trouble with mom.'  Roshi marveled as he absentmindedly mimicked Goku and scratched his own head as he thought.  Then he realized whom Goku was talking to.

"Kaioshin?"  He asked gawking at the purple man as he looked from Goku to Roshi and back as though inspecting them for something.

"Yes, I am Kaioshin."  He said before he turned back to Goku.  "I hate it when you block me.  What are you planning?  You wouldn't have brought him here if you weren't planning something."

Goku just scratched his head.  "Um... no... I just wanted him to watch the fight."

Kaioshin looked from Goku to Roshi again and cocked an eyebrow.  "Why do I get the feeling I am going to regret this?"

Goku laughed and scratched his head.

"Right, whatever, just don't do anything more."  Kaioshin said before he started to walk away.  Before he got more than ten paces though he stopped and turned.  "Oh, the boy goes back to Enma to judge as soon as this is over."

Goku just nodded.

Roshi's mind was numb.  'Goku, and the Kaioshin, together I met them at the same time... their speaking to me... wow.'

"Roshi, come over here and look at that star.  Then think about the fight, ok?"  Goku said as he walked over to a small bluff.

"Ah yeah sure."  Roshi replied without even really hearing what Goku had said.

"Ok, I need you to be touching me now."  Goku replied.

Roshi blinked and stared at Goku.  'He wants me to what?'

After about a minute of just looking at Goku, the legendary man finally realized something was up.  "Why are you looking at me?  Come here and put your hands on me so you can watch the fight."

"Huh?"  Roshi asked snapping out of his stupor.

Goku looked confused.  "This is Kaioshin's planet.  Because I am a Guardian I can watch any planet.  That star.  That's Saiya.  If you are holding my hand when you look at it and then think about the fight and you will be able to see it."

"Oh," Roshi said as he grabbed Goku's hand and looked at Saiya's Star. He thought of Ichigo and instantly started to worry about how she could be holding up without him.  He glanced at Goku.  'Could he be so cruel as to bring me up here just to force me to watch what my failure has cost everyone?  I don't know if I even want to watch.  Boxee was down, and Ichigo was hurt.  And I don't have a clue how my dad and the other's were doing.'

Roshi blinked.  'Wait, this is Goku.  The legends about him... he didn't have a cruel thought in his head... which means...'

Roshi concentrated and thought about Ichigo.

In his mind's eye he could see her fighting.  "She's a Super Saiyan!"  He yelled out as he caught sight of her golden hair and green eyes.  

"This is incredible!  She actually did it.  I... I knew she would do it.  I just knew it!"  He said happily as he continued to watch.  He watched as she back-flipped away from Blizzard before dodging a ki blast and throwing a Drill Beam at Ice.

"Holy Shit!  She's fast!  I mean she's really really fast!"  Roshi gasped aloud as he realized there were moments when he was having trouble following her movements.

Roshi looked over to see Goku grinning along happily.  "Thank you for bringing me here to watch this!"

* * *

Ichigo back-flipped off of Ice's head and kicked Thunder in the face as he came up behind her.  Blizzard had not taken being mocked well.  He had given up fighting her one on one and was now standing back watching as the other three Changelings ganged up on Ichigo.

'Damn it!  I am not doing enough damage!'  Ichigo thought as she knocked Chill back with a hammer blow.  

Ichigo twisted her wrists around and fired off her version of the Kamehameha.  It spun away and drilled into Blizzard, who didn't get out of the way in time.

The blue beam had been slowly knocking him back, but she couldn't hold it on him long enough to truly damage him.  Her only advantage was her speed and agility.  Standing still was an invitation for an attack.  She cut the beam off, and quickly had to duck and spin out of the way of a black Kienzian.

Realizing that the Kienzian was probably one of the only ways to actually kill her, the Changelings had started throwing them about in a myriad of directions and numbers in the hopes of catching her.

She had tried to lead the razor sharp disks back at the Changelings, but they had not fallen for her tricks.

Ichigo cut off the Kamehameha and flipped over the Kienzian.  She kicked it in the center of its large flat side and it shattered.  While the spinning disks were nearly indestructible if hit on their sharp edge, they were easily destroyed if struck anyplace else.

Ichigo tossed up several Star Rippers out to catch a few more of the Kienzians, and perhaps a Changeling or two.

Blizzard landed in front of her and tried to hit her, but she ducked under his blow and kicked him in the right knee before throwing a two handed Blaze attack right up into his face.

"Damn you, you fucking monkey whore!  When I get my hands on you I'm going to rip you to shreds!"  Blizzard screamed as his fists swept impotently through the space Ichigo had been in moments before.

"Call me what you wish, I am still leagues beyond your wildest dream.  Get it through your scull.  You've lost.  You can't hurt me anymore!"  Ichigo yelled before kicking him in the face twice and following that up with the largest Plasma Beam she could produce.

Blizzard was knocked back but not very far.  "Damn!"  Ichigo swore.  'What good does having a seemingly endless well of ki do me if I can only use so much at a time.  I cannot do enough damage!'

A distant rumble shook the ground as another capsule ship started to take off.

Blizzard and the rest of the Changelings looked at it for a moment.  "No longer able to hurt you?  Hmm, I think not."  Blizzard said as he sent a monstrously large ki blast at the ship.

"No!"  Ichigo screamed as she darted towards the blast to block it.  She was able to block three of the four ki blasts, but not the fourth.  The smallish pink beam Thunder had thrown slipped by her.  She watched as it slammed into the accelerating ship and cracked it open like an egg.  The engines sputtered and then exploded.  Shrapnel and bodies flew in all directions.

Before she had met Roshi, Ichigo would have been horrified by the destruction of innocent lives, but now, now she felt the two hundred lives wink out of existence.  It hurt.  It hurt to know that she wasn't fast enough, or strong enough to stop their deaths.  It hurt to hear the four Changelings laughing and mocking her.  It hurt to doubt once again.

"Damn you Blizzard!  You'll pay for that!"  She shrieked as she focused her mind and did the only thing she knew how to improve her strength.  She turned towards Blizzard and then shot at him bringing her fist back in rage.  "Kaio-Ken!!"

* * *

Roshi realized his heart had stopped.  It was slightly disconcerting to realize that while he had a body, he did not actually have to have a beating heart or breath to stay conscious.  More disconcerting, however was why he had stopped both breathing and having a beating heart.

"Ichigo No!  That will kill you!  You can't do a Kaio-Ken while Super Saiyan!"  He yelled at the air.

"Goku, tell her to stop before she kills herself!  It's her only hope!"  Roshi pleadingly ordered his many generations removed grandfather.

Goku slowly shook his head.  "This is her fight now, she has to fight it on her terms.  

"But it will kill her!"

Goku shrugged.  "It might."

Roshi was flabbergasted.  "And you don't care?!?"

Goku looked away.  "It's her fight.  I cannot help, however, if you wish to warn her you can."

"I can?  What can I do?"  Roshi asked pleadingly.

Goku looked at him as though he was judging Roshi.  "You only need do what your heart desires."

Roshi glared at Goku.  'Gee, thanks for the help.'  He thought before turning to watch Ichigo fight more.  'No!  You have to stop.  Please for the love of everything holy stop before you kill yourself!'  He pleaded with her through his mind.

To be continued...

* * *

Hi.  First off, thank you for still reading this.  I am really sorry about the month long wait for the new chapter.  This has been a really bad month as far as my schedule has been concerned.

Secondly, I have gotten quite a few anonymous reviews.  If you are not on my mailing list and would like to be please leave me an email address and I will add you.

Anyway, thanks for reading and PLEASE review.

The Smooster.


	53. Death of a Hero, Part Two

Chapter 53

Death of a Hero:  Part Two

Day One in the Month of Strength, 18:10

It always hurt.  Every time she had ever used the Kaio-Ken it had hurt.  The very first time she had succeeded to perform the power-up, her ear drums had burst and Dende had been needed to heal her.  The way the Kaio-Ken felt was like a combination of horribly bad sunburn, frostbite, and electrical shock all jumbled up in a few moments where the extra ki produced was forcibly created and put to use.

This hurt worse.

In the past few hours, Ichigo had encountered mental and spiritual pain in enough quantity to smash down her barriers.  She had thought that the transformation into a Super Saiyan had been harsh, but now, as the capsule ship's burning debris fell from the sky, Ichigo encountered a wall of pure physical pain.  The moment she focused her mind and began the Kaio-Ken the needle pricks started.  The needles of pain intensified to burning searing points of pain within her muscles and bones.

'Roshi died for me.  The people on that ship died because I failed.  I will not fail again!'  Ichigo thought resolutely as she focused her mind and pushed away as much of the pain as she could.

Ichigo focused her rage and her pain on Blizzard and shot at him like one possessed by a demon.  She sped around the arc of his defending arm and slammed a roundhouse Ki Punch into his left eye.  He brought up his arm to block and she flipped around it to drive her knee into his stomach followed by an uppercut to the point of his jaw.

Ichigo felt her middle finger pop as it dislocated and the surprise caused her to drop out of the Kaio-Ken.

The world seemed to instantly speed up as her mind adjusted to the sudden drop in power and speed.  In that moment of adjustment, Blizzard finally hit her for the first time since she had gone Super Saiyan.

* * *

'What in the nine hells did I get myself into?'  Max thought to herself as she dodged a tail swipe from the serpentine creature she was now fighting.  The creature had the head and body of a snake while also having four arms.  To make matters worse, it also had golden scales that scintillated in the sunlight, making it hard to watch its movements.

Max rolled out of the way of an over-head two-fisted slam and kicked it in the middle of its chest.

The creature grunted and fell back onto its back, but quickly rolled and righted itself.  

'This could take all day.'  Max thought moments before Nail dropped onto the snake-thing's back.  Several popping noises indicated that its back had shattered.  Nail stomped on its head and it stopped moving altogether. 

Max shuddered.  "You make that look too easy."

"What?"

"Killing.  Compared to you, that thing didn't have a chance."

Nail glared at her for a moment.  "Now is not the time to allow yourself to get into a moral dilemma.  That creature would have had no compunction against killing you or I had the situation been reversed."

Nail looked off towards where Goshu was fighting alone.  "While killing should never be easy, tell me this, which is worse, a harsh act that stops evil, or allowing evil to remain unfettered?"  Nail asked before backhanding a warrior who had dared to get to close.  "These solders serve the Changelings, remember that and look at what they willingly did to this world before you question the fairness of what we now do."

Max glared at him.  "Damn it!  Don't you think I know that!?!"  She shook her head, red hair jostling in the wind, before turning to kick a puce skinned warrior in the face.

The warrior fell backward and collapsed in a heap before he rolled to his knees and tried to stop the flow of blood from his shattered nose.

Max kicked him again and his neck shattered under the blow.  She then glanced back at Nail again.  "Damn it, I know, but it doesn't make this any easier!"

* * *

Roshi absentmindedly clenched down on Goku's arm as he watched Ichigo continue to fight. 'Ichigo just fight him.  You don't need the Kaio-ken!' Roshi pleaded in his mind before he turned to shout at Goku.  "Damn it all!  This isn't working!  She's getting herself killed!"

Goku looked over at him.  "Maybe you just need to relax and see what happens."

Roshi looked back at the planet to watch as Ichigo bounced off of a marble pillar to land on her stomach and slowly skid to a stop in the middle of what had once been a grand avenue through the Capitol.

"Get up!  Get up!" Roshi yelled turning back towards Goku.  "What do you think is going to happen?  Ichigo's going to end up dead!"

Goku just shook his head and Roshi was forced to grab back onto his arm to continue to watch from the heavens as Ichigo fought.

"Is that all you have?"  Blizzard laughed mockingly.  "For all your brag and all the stories this is all the highly acclaimed Super Saiyan can do?"

Ichigo slowly pushed herself up onto her feet.  Blood dripped from her nose and mouth, causing her breathing to be ragged and gurgled.  Because of this, her reply was lost in the wind.

Ichigo screamed in pain as the red-orange aura of the Kaio-ken burst forth from her as she shot at Blizzard.

"Stop it.  Stop it now the Kaio-Ken is going to kill you!!!" Roshi yelled to no avail.

Blizzard had only just started to move when Ichigo drove her knee deep into his stomach, and brought her hands down on the front of his forehead.  

"Blaze!" She screamed as she sent forth an enormously large stream of fire directly into Blizzard's eyes.

"AAAAGGGhhhhhhhh!!"  Blizzard howled in pain as he swung blindly at her.

Ichigo ducked out of the way and jumped back to catch her breath.  

As Ichigo bent at the waist to catch her breath, Roshi started swearing on the Kaioshin's planet.  "Damn it all to Hell and back!  Ichigo!  Stop using the Kaio-Ken, it's going to kill you!"  Roshi screamed as he noticed Ichigo's nosebleed had gotten worse and she was now bleeding from her ears as well.

Chill landed on her and drove her into the ground.  He was about to kick her in the head when Blizzard knocked him away.  "I said the monkey bitch was mine!  Interfere again and I'll kill you for the slight!"

Goku laughed, "Changelings were always too confident."

Roshi let go of Goku's arm and gaped at him.  "How can you be laughing?  What could possibly be funny about what is happening down there?"

"Ah, I think, young Roshi, that in Goku's experiences, to steal a phrase from opera, things are not over until the fat lady sings.  There is still a lot that can happen to change the battle that is now in progress.  All is not lost yet."  Kaioshin replied as Roshi continued to stare incredulously at Goku.

Much to his chagrin however, Roshi knew that the Kaioshin was right; there was a lot that could still happen.  Even so, even with knowing how good of a fighter and how stubborn Ichigo was, he was quite certain that it would take much more than a miracle for her to beat the Changelings now.

Roshi glared at Kaioshin for a moment and then almost did a double take as he realized he was standing next to Goku, THE Goku. He was on the Kaioshin's planet next to Goku.  He was standing not more than a few meters from not only Goku but also the Kaioshin himself, and then there was the Rou Kaioshin, and Buu.  Compared to them the Changelings were nothing more than fleas.    

"But you're laughing?  How can you just stand there and laugh at Blizzard when he's practically ripping Ichigo apart?  Aren't you going to do something to help?"

Goku turned and looked over at Roshi.  He started to open his mouth to say something when Kaioshin cut him off.  "No he will not!  He has already done far too much as it is!"

Roshi stared at him with an incredulous expression on his face.  "What?  What do you mean he has done too much?  You're a God!  You're the Guardian of the Universe!  How can you possibly say Goku has done too much?"

Kaioshin half-closed his eyes.  "Stop being snarky with me young man.  Goku, what did you ever hope to accomplish by bringing him here.  You know you are forbidden from interfering in this battle."

"Forbidden?  Why would you forbid him from helping?  Don't you care?  The Changelings are going to kill her!  They're going to kill my Dad, and Slip, and Nail, and Max, and Tee, and Boxers, and and everyone!"  Roshi turned to Goku.  "You mean you're just going to stand there?  You're not going to do anything?"

Goku put a hand on Roshi's shoulder.  "Have patience.  The fight is not over yet."  He turned to Kaioshin.  "I just thought Roshi would like to watch the fight.  I didn't think it would hurt anything.  You're not going to make me take him back are you?"  Goku asked sounding much like a small child trying to keep his stray puppy.

* * *

"Hey you guys, I need some help here!"  Slip shouted out of the compound.

Max turned and looked back at her younger cousin.  "I'm kinda busy out here.  Can't you just blow open the back wall and get the prisoners out of there?"

"That's the problem!  They're all unconscious!"  Slip yelled back.

Max's head jerked back as she turned back to Slip, "say what?"

"All the Saiyans are unconscious!"

"But they are alive?" Nail asked tersely.

"Yeah, the few I checked are.  Other than looking starved, there's nothing wrong with them.  But there are thousands of them in there, and I can't move them all myself!"  Slip yelled as she darted back into the bunker like building Blizzard had been using to hold the Saiyans.

Nail turned to look back at Slip.  "We have half an hour to get as many of these people off of this planet as we can.  Fifty if we really stretch things out.  Stop talking and get moving!"

* * *

Kit landed the ship next to the building the scouter had indicated was hiding Saiyans within.

The building was in the middle of a suburban area that almost looked like it could have been on Earth.  Kit looked at the little scanner thing-a-ma-bob Slip had given her and walked into the darkened building.

"What the heck?  This is a sporting goods store!" Kit gasped in shock as she looked at the racks of swimsuits and other various sporting goods.  Kit quickly tried to get the mental image she had of the warrioress amazonian Ichigo represented to mesh with the rather happy looking docile images portrayed by the manikins in the store.

'Well I guess they can't ALL be like she is.'  Kit thought to herself moments before a pipe came crashing down on her head.

* * *

Blizzard held Ichigo up by the throat, and laughed into her face. "You have gone from being a mere annoyance to being an actual bother."

Blizzard held her up to the rest of the Changelings.  "So, how should I kill her?"

"I think you should..." Thunder started.

"It was a rhetorical question you nincompoop!  I already know how I'm going to kill the bitch.  Nice and slow."  As he said this he clenched down on her neck and laughed.  

He then reached out and grabbed the top of her armor at her neckline and yanked the front of her armor off of her.  This left her with only her skinsuit on.  Her armor had been cracked and pitted and nearly destroyed anyway, but it had been some degree of insulation.  Even as a Super Saiyan, Ichigo began to get cold.

Ichigo was trying to keep her teeth from chattering when she realized Blizzard had ripped her pendant off of her.  "Give that back you slime."  She wheezed through his choking grasp.

Blizzard turned to look at her and snickered as he dropped the piece of armor and the pendant.  "What this?"  He asked before he started to grind it beneath his feet.

He ground his foot into the ground shattering the gemstones and destroying the pendant.

"Oh, did that mean something to you?  I thought it was just a dead symbol of a dead race of stupid monkeys.  I think you should go the same way it did.  Ground to dust."

As he spoke, Blizzard pulled Ichigo closer to him and spit into her face.  Ichigo shrieked and thrust out her arm to jab him in the nose.  "I am not dead yet you bastard!"  She yelled hoarsely as he dropped her.

Ichigo back-flipped away and kicked him in the crotch.

"That attack doesn't work quite as well on me monkey!"  Blizzard roared as he threw out a beam of ki, which vaporized a swath of snow, yet missed Ichigo entirely.

"My people are not dead!  We will never be ground to dust by you or any other tyrant!"  Ichigo screamed at him after finding a sudden burst of energy.  "Kaio-ken!"

The red-orange aura exploded out from her as Ichigo pushed herself harder than she had attempted to previously.  She could feel blood start to ooze from her eyes, but she didn't care.  If this fight was going to kill her, she was going to take at least one of the Changelings with her.

"Kamehameha!!!"  She yelled as she threw the brilliant blue spinning beam of energy at Blizzard.  It hit him and knocked him back into Ice and Chill.  The three Changelings were pushed through a building, which then collapsed on them.

Ichigo smirked.  'That was almost worth the pain.  I just wish Roshi was here to see it.'

She kept pushing it out of her mind, but she could almost swear she could hear Roshi's voice.

* * *

"You thought I would like watching this?  Are you sadistic?  Who would want to watch, as his friends and family get ripped apart?  Who besides someone like Blizzard LIKES to watch others suffer?"  Roshi yelled at Goku as he paced back and forth for a moment.  

Roshi grabbed onto Goku's arm again.  "My dad is fighting several thousand warriors alone.  Max and Slip seem to be up to their necks in unconscious Saiyans, while Nail protects them.  Kit is... Oh great, Kit's on the fucking planet too!  And look!  She's getting beat on by Saiyans who think she's part of Blizzard's army, just like I told her she would be if she went down to the surface!   I don't even want to look at Ichigo, Boxers, and Tee, cause I half suspect they will be joining me up here shortly!  And you thought I would LIKE to watch this?"  Roshi relented and grabbed Goku's arm again to see how Ichigo was doing.

"DAMN it Ichigo stop doing that!!!" Roshi turned to Goku.  "Can't you do anything?"

"Well ah... I... ah..." Goku just started to say.

"I... I just don't understand how you can just stand there and watch."  Roshi grabbed onto Goku's arm again and looked down at the planet.  "How can you just stand here and find hope watching this?  Ichigo's killing herself.  My dad and Slip, and Max and everyone else are fighting against impossible odds.  I don't understand how you can just watch this and claim that there is hope!"  Roshi shouted as tears welled in his eyes.  

"How can you just stand up here watching all those people die?  How could you?  How?  All the stories...  I grew up to all the stories about how great and noble and fucking perfect you were and now... now you just stand there doing nothing!  You're no hero."  Roshi yelled at Goku.

"Now listen here young man!  I have just about heard enough out of you!  Goku is a hero.  He did do all those things in all those stories you grew up to."  Kaioshin replied smartly to Roshi.

Roshi turned to look at Kaioshin.  "And you.  You're the Guardian of the Universe!  You could change all of this, but you just sit and watch.  And to make matters worse you've forbidden Goku from stopping it!  How can you be so cruel?"

"Can you see the future Son Roshi?"  Kaioshin spat back tersely.

"No, but I can sure the hell predict it.  If you do nothing and you don't allow Goku to do anything Ichigo and my family will die!"  

The Kaioshin did not reply so Roshi grabbed Goku's arm again and watched as a massive ki blast knocked Ichigo back.  The fight had moved out of the city and was now in a region of forested hills.  Ichigo made a wide cone of destruction as she slid to a stop on the top of a formerly forested and snow encrusted hill.

"How can you watch her fight so hard and do nothing to help her?  How can you stand there and watch the hopes and dreams of a whole race of people just die?"

"How can I not.  It is not my place to stop this."  Kaioshin replied.

Roshi looked at Goku and he could see that the legendary man agreed with him.  But he also realized that as long as the Kaioshin forbid it, Goku would do nothing.  It all seemed so very wrong.

"Doesn't their suffering mean anything to you?  Don't their dreams mean anything to you?  How can you say that there is always hope in this fight if the very things in which that hope is based mean nothing to you?"

Kaioshin slowly shook his head.  "Roshi, you misunderstand me. My hand is not stayed because of desire, but because of need."

"Need?  Are you saying that Ichigo and her people need to die?"  Roshi gasped in shock.

"No, they no more need to die than anyone else."

"Then why can't you save them?  Why can't you save _her_?"  Roshi pleaded. 

Kaioshin stared hard at Roshi for a few moments.  "Ah, tell me Roshi, why is saving Ichigo so important to you?"

This question surprised Roshi and he actually had to think for a moment.  "Because!  Because she has had so much pain in her life.  She deserves a chance at happiness."

"And is it my place to ensure that all people are happy?"  Kaioshin asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No."

"Then why do you plead so incessantly that I or Goku save her?"

"Because you can.  Do you need anymore reason then that?"

"Why?  Why should I stop their deaths?  Heroes such as yourself die every day on countless planets.  Not even I can save them all.  Why should I get involved here but not elsewhere?"

"Because!  Because you can make a difference.  Even if you can't save everyone the ones you do save will be able to make a huge difference!"

Kaioshin looked at him doubtfully.  "And how should I know who needs saving?  Should I just look after the weak?  Or, should I just save the noble?  You say that this Ichigo deserves to live, and to be happy.  How then do I determine who is deserving?  How do I tell who needs to be saved?"

"I don't know, but that still doesn't mean you shouldn't stop Blizzard!"

"Oh?  So why should I stop Blizzard?"  Kaioshin asked sounding perturbed.

"Cause he's evil and he delights on killing anything that isn't as strong as he is, which is nearly everything.

"Oh, and just how should I stop him?"

"Well kill him duh!"

Kaioshin actually smiled.  "So, I should just go and kill all the people who do evil acts and harm those weaker than themselves?"

"Well it would be a heck of a lot better than just standing here and doing nothing!" Roshi yelled back still quite perturbed.

Kaioshin nodded.  "Ah huh."

"Ah huh what?"

Kaioshin slapped his forehead in frustration.  "Tell me Roshi, are evil people always evil?  And what exactly makes a person evil?  Is it one act, or is it the intent of the act?  If it is the intent how do you tell when the result isn't what one intended?  Should I have gone to Earth and broken your nose for your fight with Rock?"

Kaioshin turned and looked back at Roshi.  "Should I have shown up and stopped Ichigo from blowing up your moon and accidentally killing all those people?  Or rather should I have killed her for killing the people on that ship, or on Namek?  Or what about Vegeta, Vegeta killed billions of people before he met Goku.  Should I have killed Vegeta?  Or perhaps a hundred years before Goku was even born when the Saiyans were rampaging and killing innocent lives to steal planets for Frieza.  Should I have killed them all then?"

Roshi didn't know what to say, "Well ah..."

"Unless you can see the future and you can tell me everything that will happen given every single choice everyone in the universe makes every moment, do not presume to lecture me about how I fulfill my place in this Universe!  Had I listened to your own advice you wouldn't even exist!"  Kaioshin yelled back into Roshi's face.  "I make sure the universe will continue to exist.  Beyond that I just watch.  There is nothing else I can do."

"But no, you... you can't just let them all die!"

Kaioshin shook his head sadly.  "Roshi, were you not listening, I can, and I will.  It is not my place to stop the events that are now unfolding.  It is not Goku's place either.  You had your chance and you gave your life for your cause.  You do not seem distraught that you yourself are dead.  Death is not the end.  It was not for you and it will not be for them.  Do not fret."

Roshi knew the Kaioshin was trying to calm him down and cheer him up, but those words rang in his head with the finality of the last nail in a coffin.

* * *

Nail felt Goshu go down.  By extending his ki, he felt the jarring impact as Goshu's shoulder slammed into the rocky ground.  More times then one could count Goshu had been hit in this battle.  More times then one could count he had been overwhelmed and been knocked down.  Only this time he wasn't getting back up.

"Damn it we're out of time!  Goshu is down, I'm going to get him and then we are getting off this rock.  Grab as many as you can and get aboard the ships.  Now move!"  He shouted behind him as he took off through the crowd of warriors who had been lining up to fight him.  He took some comfort in the fact that the shockwave he had created had knocked several of them out and many more of them down.

A sudden burst of ki off to his left distracted Nail for a moment.  He started to look off in that direction when he was suddenly struck by a huge blast of ki.

"Where are you going so fast little man?" The Chartashan warrior asked as he flew up to slam shoulder first into Nail.

"To kick your ass for getting in my way, but first, I have a friend who needs help."  Nail grunted before he knocked the enormous warrior back.

The Chartashan laughed.  "I saw him go down.  He isn't getting back up."

"And you think that's funny?"  Nail asked with a snarl.

"I think you aught to worry less about your dead friend, and more about your own chances of surviving."

A distant rumble built slowly as the planet began to shake.  "Goshu's not dead."  Nail replied calmly as he blocked an uppercut, and kicked the Chartashan in the side.

As if it had been called by Nail's words, a huge explosion lit the sky to the east.  Bodies of Blizzard's warriors flew through the air as steady yellow glow lit the air.

"Are you people so ready for death that it is all you know?"  Goshu screamed as he jumped into the air.  "Is that all you look forward to?  Is it all you can hope for?  Have you nothing better than to throw your lives away?"  He screamed furiously.

'I've never seen Goshu lose his temper before.' Nail realized as he dodged out of the way of a fleeing warrior.  'He isn't holding anything back now.'

"If you so want death, let me show it to you!"  Goshu yelled before splaying his hands out and letting loose with a stream of thousands of tiny balls of ki.  These tiny balls of ki may have been small in size, but they packed a wallop and within moments nearly a third of the remaining warriors were dead or dieing.

"What is he?" the Chartashan asked to himself as he knocked away a ki blast.

Nail actually laughed, "That is what your Changeling masters are afraid of.  That is a Super Saiyan."

"So the legends are true."  The Chartashan replied.  "No matter, if the Changelings had known my true power, they would have had far more to fear than a mere Super Saiyan."  

The huge green warrior suddenly spun and kicked Nail in the center of the chest.  Nail had barely even registered the attack before his chest compacted and all the air forced from his lungs.

* * *

'I am bleeding to death.'  Ichigo realized as she struggled to pull herself upright and out of a snow bank.  It was so cold.  Needles dug into her skin as she fought to remain conscious.

Her vision swam and her ears rang.  The world had been reduced to a dull buzzing din of pain.  More and more she was convinced she could actually hear and see Roshi yelling at her.  

Blizzard kicked her in the face.  

Ichigo felt her nose collapse as bright flashes of pain stabbed into her perception.  Her head felt like it was about to cave in, and yet there was Roshi, just out of reach, yelling words lost to the din. 'Sorry... Roshi… I am so sorry... I...' Ichigo started to think in a moment of weakness.  In that moment she almost gave up.  But then the moment was over and she knew she would never give up.  'Must keep fighting.'

The world wouldn't stop moving about her, but she knew she had fallen flat on her back.  Ichigo rolled over and forced herself to cough, anything to keep her from drowning on her own blood.

"So this is it?  This is the best you can do?  I'd almost kill you now, but you haven't suffered enough."  Blizzard mocked.

He grabbed her by the ankle and shook her for a few moments before he threw her the boughs of a large tree.

"I think I'll come back for you after I've killed all the cowards fleeing in those ships."  Blizzard said as he started to walk away from her.

Ichigo pulled herself out of the tree and fell face-first into the snow.  "No!  I... won't... let... you!"  She yelled between fits of coughing.  Ichigo couldn't even see Blizzard, her vision swam too greatly, but she was not about to just lie down and die.  "Fight... me!"

A pleased grin grew on Blizzard's face.  "That's what I always liked about you monkeys.  You were always too dumb to know when to give up.  So now you will die for your stupidity monkey!"

"Bring... it!"

* * *

"Look Roshi!  Your father's a Super Saiyan!"  Goku cheered happily.  "Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, I guess."  Roshi replied without looking up from where he now sat hunched up beside Goku.

Goku kneeled down beside him.  "Roshi?  Roshi, what's wrong?  Don't you care?"

Roshi looked up and for half a second glared at Goku in anger, yet even with Goku's seemingly incapability to see even the most obvious things, Roshi couldn't stay mad at him.

"You don't understand.  I can't.  I can't watch anymore.  I won't watch anymore.  I'm glad that my dad's a Super Saiyan.  At least with him there Nail, and Slip, and Max will be fine.  But he's on the opposite side of the planet from Ichigo.  Even if he went now, he wouldn't get there in time to save her.  And once Blizzard kills her he'll remember Tee, and Boxers.  I can't watch him kill them.  It hurts too much."

"I know."  Goku replied somberly.

"You... what?"  Roshi looked up surprised.

Goku pulled Roshi to his feet.  "I have watched far too many of my friends suffer when I could not be there to protect them.  When the Kaioshin asked me to help him, I thought I could keep everyone safe."  Goku laughed.  "I guess I was wrong."  He added while scratching the back of his head.

"Roshi, you remind me of Gohan very much.  He always blamed himself for everything.  He tried so hard and anytime something went wrong he blamed himself.  You remind me of so many things."  Goku got a far away look in his eyes.  "And I have an idea."

"You have an idea?"  Roshi repeated hopefully.

Goku looked at him and smiled.  "Don't worry, everything will be ok, you'll see."

"Hey Buu! Rou Kaioshin, could you guys come here and help me?"  Goku called out.

Kaioshin quickly rushed over.  "Goku, what's going on?"

"I'm going to help Roshi."  Goku replied cheerfully.

"Oh no you are not!  I told you that you were not to get involved!"

"But I'm not, Roshi's going back."

Kaioshin's jaw dropped and he did a double take between Goku and Roshi.  "Roshi can't go back!  He's dead!"

"Oh, well, he won't be in a bit."  Goku replied.

Roshi watched on feeling very confused while the Kaioshin suddenly started turning white.

"I think it's a great idea."  Rou Kaioshin replied.  "When do we start?"

"No!"  Kaioshin burst out, "Goku, you have got to be fucking joking!"

Goku looked at Kaioshin with a confused look on his face.  "No, I haven't seen Chi Chi in ages, and not even King Kai laughs at most of my jokes."

"Gah!! Goku how you could possibly so abysmally momentarily and situationally stupid is beyond me, and stop blocking me!  I hate it when you block me!  How can I tell what dumb plan you are thinking about when all that's on your mind is FOOD!"  Kaioshin yelled.

Goku just scratched his head.  "Um, Kaioshin, what's wrong?"

"Just tell me one thing.  Without using the Dragon Balls, just how is Roshi going to come back to life so that he can go back?"

Goku smiled.  "Um well when we were fighting Buu, I was dead and then Rou Kaioshin brought me back to life, so I was thinking I could do the same thing."

Kaioshin slapped his forehead.  "Goku, then you would be dead!"

"Um, yes, and then I could go stay with Chi Chi and Gohan and everyone again."

"And who would keep things like Buu from ever showing up again?" Kaioshin screamed at Goku at the top of his lungs.

"Well um Buu can."  Goku replied.

A huge sweat drop appeared on Kaioshin's face and he fell over.  "BUU!!  NO way!  Never!  I won't allow it!"

"But Buu's basically the Dai Kaioshin anyway, you said so yourself.  Isn't the reason he's fat cause he ate the Dai Kaioshin?"  Goku sounded confused.

"YES!!! Why to you think you're here keeping him and things like him from destroying the universe?!?"

Buu jumped between Goku and Kaioshin.  Little puffs of steam vented from his vent-holes.  "Kaioshin dumb.  Buu not evil.  Mr. Buu is good!"

Roshi was looking from Buu to Goku to Kaioshin, and catching very little of what was actually being said.  "Um, could someone explain what the heck is going on?"

Goku looked over.  "Ok, um, I'm going to give you my life energy and then you can go save everyone and I can go see Chi Chi and Gohan and Kurrin and everyone."

Roshi stepped back from Goku.  "But... but no!  I don't want your life!  Why can't you just go down there and kill the Changelings and then come back?"

Goku scratched the back of his head.  "Cause that's not my place.  That's your place.  I should have died a long time ago.  I miss my family and I want to see them again.  I'm not needed.  But you are."

"But I..." Roshi was at a loss for words.  "You can't do this for me!  I'm not worth it!"

Goku smiled.  "Yes you are."  He said as he placed his hand on Rou Kaioshin.

"Ok, here we go." Rou Kaioshin said as he grabbed Roshi's arm.  

There are many ways a hero can die.  Some heroes are made by the way they die, others by the way they lived.  Goku was both.  In everything he did he was a true hero.  In that moment amongst the perfect serene beauty of the Kaioshin's world, over the objections of the Kaioshin himself, Goku, the greatest hero to have ever lived, died for the last time.  

"Cool, it worked!"  Goku said before he started jumping up and down.  "WhoHooo!"

Roshi just stared at him with his mouth hanging open.  'Wow, that's kinda surreal.  Rather hard to feel bad about this with him looking so happy.'

"Can Buu, go take Roshi to Ichigo?  He can use the Instantaneous Movement."  Goku asked.

Kaioshin looked like he was sucking on a sour grape.  "Oh, alright.  Just don't do anything but take him down there and perhaps heal the girl."

"Whoo hoo!! Buu be good!"

"Wait!"  Goku said just as Buu grabbed Roshi.

Goku walked over and gave Roshi a hug.  "It took me a long time to figure things out, but I think I understand now.  Why are you so worried about Ichigo?"

Roshi scrunched up his face.  "I... I don't know, I...  I just want to see her happy I guess."

"So that's why you died for her?"

"Yeah, in a way I guess."

Goku nodded.  "Good.  You died for her last time.  This time, if you truly want her to be happy, you need to do more than save her life.  You need to save her soul."  Goku turned around to walk away.

"Goku I... I don't understand."

Goku turned around and smiled while scratching his head.  "You're a lot smarter than me.  I'm sure you'll get it."  Goku turned to Buu.  "Go now, Roshi hasn't much time."

Goku started to wave and the world started to diffuse.  "Roshi, don't just save her life, save her soul."

* * * * * * 

Well there you have it...

Sorry for the wait.  Please review. 

Smooster 


	54. No Greater Love

Chapter 54

No Greater Love

Day One in the Month of Strength, **18:16**

Goshu dodged to the left and arced forward to literally slap a warrior's head off.

'There are too many of them.' He thought as he watched Nail leave to go protect Max and Slip.  Slip was more than a match for any of the warriors that they were up against, but Max was starting to reach her limit of exhaustion.  

"Kamehameha!!!"  Goshu shouted as he shot the blue beam of ki out through the mass of warriors.  He guessed that he had killed nearly 3,000 solders, and there where many thousand more to kill before the day was done.

The mass of Blizzard's troops closed rank and filled in the gap created by those who were killed by the Kamehameha.

"Is that all you idiots know? Fear and death? Do you have nothing to look forward to?"  Goshu shouted as he kicked another man in the face.  The man's face collapsed and a new layer of blood splattered Goshu's leg.

The coppery stench of blood filled the air.  It coated everything.  It made his gi stick to him and it stained his hands.  Red blood mixed with purple, and green.  In the end it all turned black.

It didn't matter.  Goshu would never forget the blood.  As he fought he began to understand the play Macbeth in a way no one would ever wish to understand it.

'My son is dead.  Roshi died fighting the very injustice that these idiots represent.'  Goshu thought bitterly.  "If it is death you want then I will give you all you can handle!"  He screamed as he forced himself into Kaio-Ken once again and lobbed off several Masenkos.

'My son is dead and yet I am forced to fight on.  There is no justice to be found on this world.  We came knowing the risk, yet we have found nothing but death.'

A green lizard warrior got lucky and managed to hook Goshu in the back with its claws.  It slashed two deep cuts down the center of his back and pulled him out of his thoughts.  Moments later there was nothing remaining of the lizard but ash.

Goshu was hit hard in the face.  Though the blow didn't break his nose, it stunned him for a moment and he went down.  In an instant the mass of soldiers piled forward to try to pin him to the ground.

"I will not be stopped that easily!"  Goshu yelled as he forced the pile back and off of him with a sudden burst of ki.

Goshu now stood in the center of a circle in which all those who had been fighting him had been pushed out of.  It took a moment for the warriors fighting him to realize what had happened and come at him again.

In that moment, he was able to assess the situation.  'Kit is unconscious.  Ichigo is pushing herself beyond her limits... She won't last long at this rate.'  Goshu spun to look and see what was happening over with Nail and the girls.  'Something is wrong.  Something is very wrong.  I'm barely reading the Saiyans trapped in that building anymore.'

Goshu started to shout a word of warning to Nail, but he was too far away, and the warriors he was fighting were upon him again.

Goshu had always been highly empathic.  He had always been very good at using his ki senses to feel out his opponent's actions.  By opening his mind he could follow the flow of a fight and know when and where to dodge.

He knew he was beginning to become tired when his senses started to fail him.  He was being hit more often and harder.  The more he tried to focus, the more desperate the situation became.

Goshu was coming to realize that the men and women he was now fighting were fighting not because they believed in anything, but because they feared.  They had nothing to live for, not goals, no hopes, nothing.  There was nothing to make their lives worth living.  They had become chattel; they were not even people any longer.  Blizzard controlled them and had broken their spirits.  They were nothing more then objects waiting to be destroyed.  Hope was a word that meant nothing to the people he now fought.

The fact that Blizzard could take the very individuality away from those who served him angered Goshu beyond measure.  Blizzard had killed these men and women long ago, and now fate was forcing Goshu to enact the final killing blow.

'My son is dead because he believed in more than just himself.  We came here because we believe in more than just ourselves.  Ichigo is killing herself on that belief, that hope.  Slip, and Max struggle for those imprisoned, and yet I am forced to fight people who have lost all sense of hope.  They are zombies.  They are dead.

"Don't you even value your own lives?"  He shouted in rage again.

They ignored him and continued to throw themselves at him.  They threw themselves as though they were eager to die.

"Death and blood."  Goshu muttered to himself as he tried to spit the taste from his mouth. 'That is all these people are.  The very thought cheapens life.  It cheapens the struggle we have fought for our entire lives.  It made Roshi's sacrifice look in vain.'

Goshu was hit again and went down.

'All this death cheapens Roshi's life.'

That final thought was more than Goshu could take, and as he fell once again and was buried beneath a pile of men and women who had nothing to live for even if they did beat him, he snapped.

* * *

18:25

"Go now, Roshi hasn't much time."  Goku started to wave and the world started to diffuse.  "Roshi, don't just save her life, save her soul."

'How the hell do I save her soul?'  Roshi thought as he materialized almost directly on top of Ichigo.  

A huge ki blast slammed into Buu's back a moment later.  The blast exploded harmlessly.  "Hah, That tickles!" Buu exclaimed as he let go of Roshi.

"Whatever you are you're going to regret that!"  Blizzard suddenly yelled out at Buu.  "Kill him!"

As Buu turned to look at the Changelings, Roshi got a good look at Ichigo.  Roshi prided himself on his constitution, but what he saw took his breath away and churned his stomach.

'Dende!  She looks terrible!'  Roshi gasped as he got a good look at Ichigo.  Blood oozed out of her mouth, nose, ears, and numerous other locations about her body.  Her hands where broken and swollen a nasty blackish blue.  Her legs and arms were practically blue from frostbite and loss of blood.  The rest of her was a sickly pasty-white color.

Ichigo had cut her hair before the battle, but now it looked as though large chunks of what was left of it had been ripped out.  There were several spots on her scalp where there was no hair remaining at all.

To make matters worse, almost all of her armor had been blown off.  On her left side, from about the mid-waist up, all that remained of her skinsuit was the under-wire from her bra.  Roshi diverted his eyes while noting that Ichigo had a new scar directly below the old one she had gotten during her trial all those many years ago.

'Ichigo... oh my.'  Was all Roshi could think as he used his ki senses to examine her more closely.  Her heart barely beat within her chest as her lungs gurgled with effort to continue breathing.  Her ribs on both side of her body were smashed and both of her lungs had been punctured in places.

Ichigo was dying.  She was hurt far worse than she was in their first fight.  It felt like that fight had taken place a lifetime ago.  Roshi felt an ache take hold in him as looked into her broken face nearly dumbstruck as he felt her life ebb away.

One of the most incredible things about time is the fact that it truly is relative.  There are moments in life, which through fear, or will, or pain, or a multitude of other experiences can stretch on into infinity with crystal clarity.  In these moments the cosmic lens on life comes into focus and in that moment an epiphany happens.

Within his mind's eye Roshi looked at Ichigo and saw a thousand different images from a thousand different moments.  He remembered her face the moment he grabbed her tail.  He saw her struggle with emotions and finally break down that night in the capsule house when she was so desperate for information.

He remembered the glowing blush that was on her face amid all the anger that first night when he had walked in on her.

He saw her angry and confused flustered and desperate to learn that first day in the Gravity Room.  He saw the look of surprise when he had adjusted the gravity and forced her to perform a perfect face-plant.

He remembered fondly how quickly she had learned and how sharp tongued she always was.

Then there was Banana and everything that happened that night.  There was the fear at the loss of memory and the first sign that someplace within that hard shell there truly was someone desperate for a friend.

He remembered that night after she had cooked for him and opened up for the first time to him.

Then there was how happy she had been when she first realized how to sense ki.  That night had been one of the best.  She had been truly beautiful that night out on Icarus.  And then there was that hug, and the warmth of her body, the smell of her hair.  Her face when she realized what she had done.  The blush that had slightly colored her cheeks every time she looked at him for the next two days.

Then encounter with Rock and the way she had treated Nighty.  The way she had tried so hard and even put herself into a coma in the ROSAT.

Then, there was the day in the ROSAT when he had used his senses to not only sense her location, but to also truly sense her.  He had sensed the beating of her heart and the inhalation and exhalation of breathing. 

There was the memory of Slip and Ichigo chasing him around before Ichigo had fled the ROSAT, and the story she had told in Charlie's

He remembered her tenacity in the battle with Snow.  

He saw again the hidden looks and furtive glances that had been exchanged on the trip to Saiya.  He blushed as he recalled the conversation the girls had had in the hot tub.

He remembered her tears at the sight of her father and the determination that had been set on her face.

He remembered how he could do nothing for her in that moment.  Then and now he felt her pain.

Moment, feeling, emotion, memory, thoughts, words, and actions passed through Roshi's mind in those few seconds.  But they were not the only things passing there within his mind.

Goku's words echoed there as well.

'How do you save someone's soul?'  Roshi wondered to himself.

From somewhere deep within his memory a poem came forth.

_Deep within the soul of every man lives a need to be known... to be loved..._

Roshi looked at Ichigo and remembered all the moments they had had.  He longed to understand, but even in a perfect moment of time, when within the lens of the universe things become clear, time is not truly infinite.  'What is love?' A quiet voice in the back of his head asked as reality caught up with him.

"YOU!  NO!!!  This cannot be! I killed you!"  Blizzard suddenly screamed shattering Roshi's thoughts.

Roshi looked up and over to see Blizzard floating in the air some 200 meters to the East.

Roshi smirked and focused himself.  In a brilliant flash he became a Super Saiyan once again.  "Correction, the four of you killed me.  I got bored in Heaven so I came back."  Roshi said as he turned to face Blizzard.  'Good, Ichigo and the city are behind me now.  As long as I push Blizzard further to the East he will probably forget the ships fleeing towards the Phoenix altogether.'

"Ohhh, pretty girl hurt bad!"  Buu chimed.  "Buu fix all better."

Roshi never took his aqua-green eyes off of Blizzard, but he sensed Buu whip his antenna forward and send a beam of white-green energy at Ichigo.  "There, pretty girl all better!"

The injuries healed instantly as Buu magically healed and restored Ichigo to full health.

Ichigo's eyes popped open and she took a huge gasp of air.  She jumped to her feet and immediately started to shiver.  Then she saw Roshi.  "Roshi?"  She asked bewildered.

"Ohhh, pretty girl need clothes."  Buu squeaked.

Roshi didn't turn to look at her, but he felt the heat radiate off of her as she suddenly began to blush.

Buu whipped his antenna forward again and a gi shimmered into existence round her. "Pretty girl look nice now!"

* * *

Ichigo knew she was dying.  Her body had been damaged too much in the last few minutes to survive.  She had lost too much blood.  She was too cold, and too worn.

When Blizzard hit her that last time, she had found herself unable to stay conscious.  With the thoughts of how greatly she had failed everyone heavy on her mind, murky darkness took her.

Then suddenly there was a soft tingling sensation.  Her lungs burned for air and she gasped.  The chilled air caused her to shiver as she opened her eyes.

Ichigo had expected a white fog, or a black nothing.  She had expected to be dead.  Ichigo had never believed in spirits or ghosts but that was the first thing that entered her mind as she looked up at the large pink man thing that was standing over her.  She could sense Blizzard and knew she was still on Saiya.

'Am I dead and doomed to haunt Saiya for my failures?'  She thought to herself as she shivered.

Then she saw Roshi.  The moment she saw him she sensed his presence.  He wasn't hallucination.

"Roshi?"

"Ohhh, pretty girl need clothes." The pink thing squeaked.

Ichigo suddenly realized that one of the reasons why she was so cold was that she was nearly nude.  She started to raise her arms to cover herself as the pink thing whipped its antennae forward.

Ichigo saw and felt the energy start to build at the tip of the Pink thing's antennae and instinct warned her that she was being attacked.  She tried to roll away while covering herself, but was soon enveloped in a warm glow of energy.

Ichigo found herself wearing a gi almost identical to the one Slip had made for her the second day she had been on Earth.

"Pretty girl look nice now!"

She looked from the Pink man to Roshi and realized the back of his neck was flushed.

'Stupid blushing pervert!  I hope you liked what you saw you bastard!' Ichigo glared at him as she jumped to her feet.  'This is so unfair.  Why does he always get to see me nude?  Just for once I wish he would get his clothing blown of.  It would serve him right.'  Ichigo smirked, 'And it would be a nice show too.'

Roshi finally turned to look at her.  His smile was enough to warm her up.  In an instant she stopped shivering.

"Ichigo... Thank Kami you are alive!"

"I am alive?"  She asked almost in awe of the fact.  "How?"  

Ichigo's mind was in turmoil.  She was having trouble focusing her thoughts. 'Roshi came back.'  She thought in a momentary daze as she gaped at him.  'Roshi came back to me!'

Mixed emotions flooded Ichigo's mind.  Roshi's sudden death had pushed her beyond the barrier and to the level of a Super Saiyan.  Ever since that moment, she had been focused on her grief and pain.  When She had started using the Kaio-ken she had realized immediately how much damage it was doing to her body.  But it hadn't mattered.  Only her people had mattered at that point.  She had died the moment she realized she loved Roshi.  She had died the moment she had accepted he was truly gone.

And now...  now he was back.  Part of her wanted to fly over and beat him to a pulp for putting her through all that pain.  'He had warned me.  I didn't think Super Saiyan could hurt so much.  But not all pain is physical.' She realized as she sought to control her emotions.

The rest of her wanted to fly over to him and hug him.  She desperately wanted him to draw her into his arms and to hold her tight.  She needed him to tell her that he really truly was back.

Ichigo looked from Roshi to the big pink thing that had healed her and magically made her gi for her.  She could sense an immense power from this being.  It was a power that frightened her in a way.  She looked to Roshi and saw that he was not afraid.

"You... you're... you are dead!  Roshi you cannot be here.  You died.  I saw you die.  What are you doing here?  What am I doing here?"  She managed to force out.

Roshi slowly nodded.  He smirked slightly.  

'Tell him you love him.  Tell him before he leaves again!'  Her consciousness screamed as she blinked tears away.  Embarrassed at the fact that she the Saiyan Queen was crying, she looked away to wipe her eyes.

Slowly she turned back to him.  Roshi opened his mouth to speak, but then just closed it and smiled.  It didn't matter.  He was back, and he was real.  That was all that mattered.  In her heart, Ichigo found something that had been absent for many years.  Ichigo found joy.  And with that fuzzy warm joy, she found hope, and a meaning to live. 'Roshi... you came back to me.'

Roshi finished smirking.  "I was, but do you really think a simple little thing like death is going to keep me from beating on Blizzard?"

* * *

Roshi watched as Ichigo looked from Roshi to Buu in astonishment and quickly patted herself down while the Changelings looked on in horror and shock.  "You... you're... you are dead!  Roshi you cannot be here.  You died.  I saw you die.  What are you doing here?  What am I doing here?"

Roshi slowly nodded. Ichigo's hair was still chopped, but it was thick and full again.  As she wasn't currently a Super Saiyan, her blue-gray eyes sparkled as rays of winter sun danced of the snow around her as tears pooled above her bottom lashes.  She turned away for a moment as though she needed to reconcile her thoughts.  Then she turned and looked directly into his eyes.  A smile that matched and added to the pure joy in her eyes slowly spread across her face.

'Kami, she truly is beautiful.'  Roshi blinked several times before he could answer.  "I was, and you should be.  But it is a long story so why don't I tell you later?  Anyway, suffice to say that a simple little thing like death is not going to keep me from beating on Blizzard."

"Oh please, I killed you once, I can kill you again.  You are only delaying the inevitable."  Blizzard sneered as he started to fly at them.  "Kill the pink blob.  Leave the bitch and the zombie to me."

Ice, Thunder, and Chill jumped at Buu as Blizzard threw a blood red ki blast at Ichigo.

Roshi jumped to block the beam and he sent knocked it away almost without effort.  "No offense here Blizzard, but I think you aught to be more concerned about me right now.  A Saiyan gets stronger every time they are injured.  Well, you killed me.  I think it's high time to figure out how much stronger that made me, don't you?"

"Brag all you want boy, it will make no difference."  Blizzard scoffed before he tossed another ki blast at Ichigo.

Roshi blocked it again.

Ichigo snarled, "Stop that!  You are not leaving me out of this fight!"  She screamed before she flew at Blizzard while screaming in rage.

Blizzard knocked her away like a flea.

* * *

Ichigo bounced off the ground and slid to a halt when her head slammed into and split a rock in half.  "Damn it!  Why?!?!  Why cannot I make it to Super Saiyan again?"  She cursed.

Ichigo winced and rolled into a sitting position as she watched Roshi quickly fly towards her with a worried look on his face. 

Ichigo's attention was suddenly diverted when she felt a ki like she had never felt before. 'It feels like the planet is going to explode!  What is causing this?'  She thought in shock as her eyes suddenly found the large fat pink man who had healed her.  'How can he produce that much power?'

"Buu no like you!"  The pink man yelled shrilly before he thrust his right hand out and literally vaporized Thunder in a burst of ki.

Blizzard stopped flying at Roshi and gaped, while the Ice and Chill were knocked back in the explosion.

"He just vaporized Thunder as if he were nothing!!  How can anything have that kind of power?"  Ichigo gasped in shock.

"Impossible!"  Blizzard yelled.  "Kill that thing!"

The pink man suddenly looked around as though he were confused.  "Oppsie Buu make a boo-boo.  Buu go bye-bye now."  He suddenly vanished only to appear next to Roshi.  The big pink man pulled Roshi into a hug.  "Roshi make Buu proud.  Beat up bad guys."

He released Roshi and then turned to look at Ichigo.  "Buu like pretty girl too."

'Oh shit!' Ichigo's eyes bulged slightly as she desperately tried to back away.  Buu however was far too fast and she was soon being hugged as well.  "You break Ubuu great love letter, but that ok.  You beat bad guys too."  Then he put his hand to his forehead and just shimmered away.

'What in the heck is going on? I have just been hugged by a big wad of gum that has enough power to vaporize Changelings without effort!'  Ichigo thought as Roshi landed beside her.

"Are you alright?"  He asked sounding anxious. 

Ichigo blinked her mind clear.  "What was that?"

"Oh, ah that was Buu."  Roshi replied as he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ichigo gasped as the warmth of his hand hit her.  'He truly is real.'  She thought as the name Buu suddenly clicked in her mind.  "Buu?  As in the thing Ubuu was merged with that made him immortal when he was married to Pan?"

Roshi scratched his head.  "Ah yeah."

"You are descended from a blob of bubble gum?"  Ichigo asked incredulously.

"Ah, he's a demon, and technically... yes.  And while this is a lovely conversation it seems Blizzard has woken up from his momentary state of shock."  Roshi said before he pushed Ichigo away from himself.  He then ducked under a ki blast before turning to look back at Blizzard.

"I don't know how that THING killed Thunder, but it won't happen again.  I killed you once, I can kill you again!"  Blizzard roared before he flew at Roshi.

Ichigo picked herself off of the ground where she had fallen when Roshi had pushed her out of the way of the ki blast.  'Thanks a lot Roshi.'  She thought as she watched him boot Blizzard in the face and send the massive Changeling crashing into the ground.

'How can he make that look so easy?'

Ichigo would have continued watching but Ice and Chill finally noticed her.

"Oh look, the monkey's not all gold and sparkly anymore."  Chill taunted.

Ichigo glared at the two of them and focused herself.  'I might not be a Super Saiyan at the moment, but just you wait.  I will give you more than enough fight.  I am nothing to take lightly.'  She thought as she powered up pushing herself as her aura glowed a brilliant blue.  'Just a little more!  I only need a little more.  I can feel it.'  She thought as she struggled to push herself to the level of a Super Saiyan again.  

Chill didn't wait; he launched himself at her with blue-purple ki crackling in his right hand.

"Shit!" Ichigo jumped away, but not soon enough.  Chill caught her left foot and sent her spinning into the ground.

Ichigo exhaled in pain as she tested her ankle.  'I cannot do it.  I cannot make it to Super Saiyan again!'

Ichigo tried again, but try as she might, she just could not push herself through the barrier.  'Why?  Why now?'

* * *

Roshi almost didn't move fast enough to dodge the ki blast Blizzard had thrown at him.  'Damn it, He isn't holding back this time.'  Roshi thought as he flipped over a beam only to be struck in the back by another one.

"You are not so cocky this time, are you Monkey!"  Blizzard mocked.  "You can't beat me."

"Is that so?"  Roshi asked before he tossed a Masenko back at the blood red Changeling.

Blizzard jumped up and over the yellow ball of energy only to run into Roshi's fist.  "I think you will find I'm not as nice this time either."  Roshi replied calmly.

Roshi's concentration was shattered when Ichigo gasped in pain.  He turned to look at her.  'Why isn't she a Super Saiyan?  What's going on?'

Roshi threw another blast at Blizzard and then shot down to land on Chill's shoulders.  Chill was driven into the ground as Roshi flipped off and blocked a pink ki blast Ice had sent out.  "Ichigo, what's wrong?  Why aren't you a Super Saiyan?"  He asked looking deep into her wide blue-gray eyes.

Ichigo blinked while showing the frustration, which was blatantly evident in her stance.  "I... I cannot... reach it.  I do not have the strength.  I cannot focus enough!"  She stammered.

"Why the hell not?  You were a Super Saiyan.  Just think about whatever pain caused you to transform in the first time.  I know it is hard, but I know you can do it. Focus on that!"  Roshi urged her on as he thought about the first few times he had made it back to Super Saiyan after the fight with Snow.

It took a lot of concentration and effort and he could only do it when he was truly furious.

Roshi looked at Ichigo and saw frustration, but no anger.

'This is bad.'  He thought as he spun to block an on coming attack.

* * *

"Focus on that!"  Roshi screamed at her before he spun to block another attack.

Ichigo stared at him wide eyed.  "But..." She started to say.  'But you are not dead anymore!  How can I focus on you when you are not dead?!?'  Ichigo wanted to scream at him.  

In the past half-hour, Ichigo had had plenty of time to think about her life.  She had known she was going to die.  She had put those thoughts behind her.  In a way she had accepted it.  She could feel that almost all of the people from Hayashi had fled.  Only a few of the more stubborn remained.  Even her aunt had already left.

Ichigo had guessed that Blizzard would not reach the city in time to stop that last ship from leaving.  She had been content to die there.  But now, Roshi was back.  Roshi was back and she had been healed and Blizzard and Chill and Ice were still fighting Roshi.

'He is protecting me again.'  Ichigo realized when Roshi jumped in front of a ki blast, which had been thrown at her. 

Roshi was knocked back and fell at her feet.  He quickly rolled to his feet and stepped between Ichigo and the Changelings.

"Oh, so you're going to protect her again?  Is she really worth dying for again?"  Blizzard laughed snidely.

"Damn it Roshi stop this!"  Ichigo yelled.  "I do not need your protection.  Just fight them.  Do not worry about me!"  Ichigo glared at him.  'I hate feeling useless!'

"Ichigo..." 

"Get away from me!"  Ichigo yelled at him.  "Damn you Roshi!  You make me weak!  Just get away from me!"  

The look on his face almost stopped her heart.  'Why?  Why do I always have to hurt you?'  Ichigo thought as she jumped into the air.  "Star Ripper!"  She cried out as she sent the spiny spinning ball of ki at Ice.

'I may not be a Super Saiyan, but I will die before I let you sacrifice yourself again Roshi.'

* * *

"Damn you Roshi!  You make me weak!  Just get away from me!" Ichigo yelled as she leapt into the air.

Roshi felt like she had just kicked him in the chest.  "Ichigo!"

His call was broken off when Blizzard hit him in the side of the face.  "Forget about the girl fool.  If she's a distraction I'll kill her for you."  Blizzard said as he stuck his hand out and pointed his index finger at Ichigo.

A point of red light began to form at the tip of his claw.

"NO!!"  Roshi yelled as he jumped up to slam his fist into the side of Blizzard's face just as he released the death beam.

The Death beam shot just wide of Ichigo and lanced out into space.

"Perhaps you'll like a taste of that!"  Blizzard yelled as he shoved his hand in front of Roshi's face.  All five of his claws glowed red and then Roshi was momentarily blinded as the laser like beams hit him in the face.

Roshi's head rocked back for a moment before he looked up to glare into Blizzard's face.  "You will have to do better than that to kill me."  He replied while he focused on Ichigo with his mind.

'Ichigo, why?  Why can't you make it to Super Saiyan?  I don't understand.  How can I help you when you won't let me?'

Roshi remembered what Goku had said.  'How can I save you if you won't let me?'

Roshi sensed that Ice and Chill were going to catch Ichigo unless she moved faster than she was moving.  "Damn it!"

"Ka-me-ha-me-HA!"  Roshi yelled as he shot Blizzard at nearly point blank range with a huge blue beam of ki.  Blizzard was knocked back, and no sooner was the large Changeling on his back then Roshi was streaking towards Ichigo.

He intercepted another ki blast and kicked Ice in the face.  Ice was knocked away, but before Roshi could turn, Chill slashed him across the back with ki blast.  The gi Roshi had gotten in heaven was not nearly as strong as his original gi, and it split easily under the beam of ki.  The beam shot through the damaged gi and first bruised and then split the skin over Roshi's kidneys and side.

The wound was superficial, but it stung horribly.  Roshi gasped in pain and was knocked back.

Ice took advantage of Roshi's momentary loss of focus to deliver an overhand blow to the top of his head.

Roshi crashed into the ground below.

"NOOO!!"  He heard Ichigo scream.  "No Roshi, don't die.  Please!  Please don't die for me again!  I'd rather die myself then watch you throw your life away again!" 

Oddly enough the fact that Ichigo had used contractions was the first thing that registered in Roshi's mind.

The second thing that registered in Roshi's mind was that if he didn't move he would have Blizzard's knee planted into the back of his neck.

Roshi rolled at the last second and caught Blizzard in the chin with his knee.

Roshi caught himself with his right hand and pushed himself up to his feet.

'Don't die for her _again_??'  Roshi thought as he winced before he kicked Blizzard again.  'I never planned to die in the first place!'

Ichigo was moving away again.  He had to stop her, "damn it Ichigo I'm not planning on dying!"

Ichigo looked down at him.  Tears were welling in her eyes again.  "Good, then kill Blizzard.  I can fight my own Battles."

This time there was nothing lovely, or wonderful, or beautiful about the tears in her eyes.  'Why is she crying?  Ichigo bottles up her emotions and hides them behind her walls... her walls fell when she went Super Saiyan!' Roshi realized as he watched her.  'What in the world happened when she went Super Saiyan?'

Roshi recognized the look of determination, which now resided on her face.  'She's going to kill herself proving she can still fight!'

Ichigo flared red as she pushed herself into Kaio-ken.  She then shot directly at Chill and started to fight him.

'She's going to fight until she dies, and she's not going to let me save her.'  Emptiness hit Roshi as he thought this.

"Damn it Ichigo!  Don't you have anything worth living for?"  He asked though he doubted she could actually hear him.

* * *

Ichigo pulled up abruptly and almost stopped dead in the air.  'Anything worth living for?'

Self-doubt is almost impossible to overcome.  It grabs hold of a person and sinks in.

'Do I have anything worth living for?  My people will survive... though I did not save them, you did.'

"Damn it Ichigo move your ass!"  Roshi yelled as he threw a ki blast up past her.  The two blasts connected and exploded in air.

'Roshi you clueless idiot I love you.'  Ichigo thought as she ducked under Chill's foot.

'I love you, but you do not see it.  You do not see what I see.  I cannot live with you protecting me!'

Roshi flew up and grabbed her around the waist and pulled her out of the way of a ki blast.

"Ichigo, talk to me.  What's wrong?"  Roshi asked with worried eyes as he looked at her.

"Why?  Why are you protecting me?  Why do I feel so week around you?" Ichigo asked fervently.  'Why can you look into my soul and see nothing?'  Ichigo asked herself.  

Roshi opened his mouth to say something and then shook his head.  Finally he just said, "Because, I believe in you."

Ichigo blinked and found her resolve.  "Then let me do this for myself.  I cannot have you protecting me.  I cannot watch you die again for no reason."

Ichigo pushed him away while bitterly wishing she could hug him and never let him go.  'He believes in me, he died for me, he came back for me, but he will never love me.'

* * *

Ichigo pushed him away and flew off to attack Chill.

Roshi just watched her go.  'Why?  Why won't you let me help you?' 

Blizzard hit him and knocked him back a few meters.  Roshi didn't care.

'Ichigo, how can I save your soul if you won't even let me save your life?'  Roshi thought as he absent-mindedly ducked another one of Blizzard's blows.

Blizzard wasn't holding anything back, and if Roshi wasn't careful, he really could be killed a second time.

'_Deep within the soul of every man lives a need to be known... to be loved...' _

"Love?"

Roshi jumped out of the way of Blizzard and sped towards Ichigo again.  He would be damned if he let her kill herself.

"Damn it Ichigo, I'm not going to let you throw your life away either!  I..." Roshi stopped himself.

'Do I love her?  She needs someone to love her...  She more than anyone I know needs it... But do I love her?'  Roshi thought.

"Do I love her?"

Roshi thought about what he felt for Ichigo, and for Mariah, and Kit, and his friends and family.

He thought about the nature of love.

He recalled words that were probably older than time, words spoken in every war and every struggle.  _No greater love doth a man have then to lay down his life so that another might live._  There were numerous ways to say it, but very few ways to deny it.  'No greater love.'

In that moment of time Roshi knew.  He knew what he had denied for so long.  He knew he loved Ichigo.

And there as he shot towards her, he thought of everything she had said, and everything Goku had said.

'I love you Ichigo.  I love you and I swear on everything I am that I won't let you down again.  I'm not letting you die.  I'm not letting you give up.  I'm going to save you.  Goku told me to save your soul and on this I promise.  I will save your life and your soul... or die trying.'

* * * * * * * * * 

Thanks... Please Review.

Oh, and some of you might have noticed I have changed some of the times around.  I realized I was making this fight take way way too much time.  SO that should be fixed now.

The Smooster

p.s.  Anyone who wishes to be on my mailing list please leave your email address.

Also, please check out The Return forum.  There are some neat things there.   


	55. Fleeting Time

Chapter 55

Fleeting Time

Day One in the Month of Strength, 18:20

(Note, this is STILL before Roshi came back from the dead just moments after Goshu when Super Saiyan, sorry for any confusion the split perspective may have caused)

Goshu exploded out from under the pile of warriors in a hail of vaporizing body parts and light.  He slowly spun to a stop and took a moment to force himself to focus his mind.  'I'm wasting too much energy... even if I am a Super Saiyan now.'  He thought in realization of his situation.  "So this is what it feels to be a Super Saiyan...  I'd rather have my son back."  Goshu said to himself in a moment of self-pity.

Then he saw Nail plummet into the ground to dig a massive furrow through the soil before the Namekian could come to a stop.

Goshu paused for a moment to assess the situation.  The warriors he had been fighting were now outclassed by leagues.  They simply did not have the power to truly threaten him.  The warrior who had hit Nail on the other hand, was not only strong enough to be a challenge, but he was also confusing in a way.  Goshu pushed the rest of the fighters out of his mind and focused on whomever it had been who had hit Nail.

'The Chartashan?' Goshu questioned as he started towards the warrior who had knocked Nail into the ground.  'It is the Chartashan, but his ki is radically altered from what it was before.'

Goshu flew up to stop the huge hunter-green warrior from continuing his attack on Nail.  His sudden appearance caused the Chartashan to pull up and stop.

The Chartashan grinned evilly showing off his sharp fang like teeth.  "I was going to let you wait your turn, but if you insist."  He said moments before vanishing.

Stars exploded into Goshu's head as he was suddenly hit in the back of the head.

Goshu rolled into a front flip and then turned to face the green warrior.

His slit nose and sunken red eyes gave the Chartashan a very death's head skull like look to his face.  This did not help Goshu's mood as he watched the warrior spread his vestigial wings and began to focus his ki for an attack. 

'I don't know where he got this increase in power, but it is as though he has more ki than his body can contain.  I will have to watch myself here.'

A ring of green ki formed around the Chartashan.  The ring quickly collapsed into the warrior's hands.  He continued to charge the now rapidly spinning ball of ki, as rays of green light dance out of his hands and cast ghastly shadows across his face.

"I can feel your fear.  You don't understand what is happening.  You Saiyans were always pitifully slow at the uptake."  The Chartashan sneered before he let loose with his massive pulsating beam of ki.  

Goshu dodged to the side and barely avoided the massive burst of ki as it rushed out to sear the air.  The shockwave created by the attack buffeted Goshu, pushing him slightly to the side.

Behind him the sky lit up in a blast of green and red light as the beam slammed into the ground sundering the earth and blowing massive chunks of rock into the air.

Goshu noted with much irony that the warriors who had been attempting to swarm Nail and himself just minutes earlier had finally taken his advice to flee, either that, or they had finally found their sense of self-preservation, as the vast majority of them were now attempting to abscond the area.   

'His ki dropped considerably.  He can't contain the energy he is fighting with.  Every second we fight, he becomes weaker.'  Goshu realized.

"You are right, I don't understand how you could have obtain such a large amount of ki without transforming, but to call interested speculation fear is wrong.  I am not afraid of you."  Goshu replied as he focused on calming his mind.  Goshu did not like the adrenaline rush like rage he was being gifted with due to the Super Saiyan transformation.  He also knew that until he found a way to control his emotions, he would not be able to draw on his full power.

"You aren't afraid of me?  Heh, you should be."

"Why are you fighting for Blizzard?  It is clear you are not like the rest of the warriors I have fought today."  Goshu asked as he circled around the Chartashan.

"Hm, Hm, Hm, who said anything about me fighting for Blizzard?  I fight for myself and no one else."  The Chartashan replied before flying up to attempt a haymaker slam.

Goshu floated back a few centimeters before he reached out to block the blow, only to have the Chartashan grab onto his hands.

"Hah, I've got you now."  The big ugly green warrior shouted triumphantly.

Goshu suddenly felt as though something were pulling at him.  It was as though a vacuum had suddenly started to suck on the air around him.  Goshu instantly realized that the Chartashan was trying to steal energy from him.  

"I'm glad that you are a Super Saiyan!  Absorbing your energy will make me invincible!"  The Chartashan mocked joyfully.

Goshu calmly looked into the Chartashan's eyes, "on Earth there was once a being named Cell who could steal the life force of others.  He was killed believing he was invincible.  And from what I have read he was a lot better at stealing energy than you are."  Goshu finished as he ripped his hands free of the Chartashan's grasp and quickly pushed his hand into the Green warrior's face.

"What!"  The Chartashan shouted as a bead of blue light formed between his nose and Goshu's hand.

The blue blast of ki wrapped around the Chartashan's face and threw him back and into the ground.

"At least now I understand why all the Saiyans in that bunker are unconscious, you stole their energy!"  Goshu shouted down to him as he dug himself out of the clayish ground.

"Oh you figured it out did you?  Well, no matter, I am still stronger than you.  Even if I cannot take your energy, I will take your life!"

"I doubt that, you may be more powerful at the moment, but for how long?"  Goshu replied as he sent a cascade of rapid fired blue Renzoku Energy Dan ki blasts to pepper the giant warrior like hail in a storm.

* * *

"I still say we should just kill it."  A woman's voice seemed to echo.

"No, I think we should ask it questions.  We have not had contact with anyone for almost two weeks.  It might know what has happened to everyone."  Replied a man's voice.

"Tee hee!  Mommy, it has a fluffy tail!"  A young boy cheered.

"Ramon!  Stay away from it!"  The woman scolded. "What do you expect it to tell us, no doubt it will just gloat about how it helped kill people once the warriors had all fallen."

"Not all the warriors have fallen.  You felt that ground quake a few minutes ago.  That was caused by a battle, I know it was."  The man replied sullenly.

"Ohh, my head" Kit mumbled as she slowly came too.  Other then the fact that her head was throbbing with her heartbeat, the first thing she noticed was that her arms and legs were bound together behind her back by something.

"It's waking up!"

"Orenji, shut up!  I can see that!"  The male voice replied again.

"I really think you should have killed it when you had the chance."  The woman repeated.

"Owwww." Kit repeated as she forced her eyes to open despite the throbbing pain in the back of her head, which felt as though it was about to explode.

The room was a bit blurry and seemed to be moving around her, so Kit tried to blink her eyes clear.  After a few moments she could clearly see her assailants.  A man with very long spiky hair stood gripping a pipe near where she had been bound.  Behind him was a small boy who appeared to be about 3 years old and with hair a lot like Roshi's was hiding behind the legs of a pregnant woman who had very short, chopped looking, spiked hair.

All three of them appeared to be wearing short-sleeved joggers outfits.

Their choice of attire did not seem to make any sense until Kit realized that she was in a store that seemed to sell only sporting goods.

"So, how many warriors did Blizzard send here?"  The male demanded while he menacingly tightened his grip on the pipe.

"You can put that down.  I'm not one of Blizzard's warriors.  I came here to help you."  Kit replied hopefully.

"Just how stupid do you think we are?"  The woman interjected, "Raimu stop wasting time!  Kill it before it calls for help."

Kit moved her head around and glared at the woman.  "I am not an it.  My name is Keiko for your information now please stop calling me it.  Besides, isn't it against your code of honor or something to kill a bound and defenseless person?"

"Hmph, when dealing with an honorable challenge that would be the case, but Blizzard and all who grovel at his feet to work his bidding are scum and are awarded no such courtesy," Raimu replied.

"Oh for Pete's sake, and you say it so formally too."  Kit rolled her eyes as she replied candidly.  "Did you miss the part where I said I wasn't one of Blizzard's warriors?  I mean really, look at me, do I look like a warrior?"

"The fact that you are wearing some kind of odd body armor does not hinder the thought."  Raimu replied sarcastically.  "I do not truly care who you claim to be, the only people on this planet now who are not Saiyans are Blizzard and his goons."

As the gravity suit did actually look quite a lot like Saiyan armor, Kit gave up on that line of reasoning.  "Fine, then why don't you let me prove to you I do not mean you any harm?  My backpack has food in it, your son looks like he is hungry."

"Food?  I hungry mommy," the little boy begged as he started tugging on his mother's pants.

Raimu walked over and flipped Kit over so that he could reach her backpack.  "Hey!  That hurt you muscle-bound..."  Kit trailed off as she realized she truly did not want to eat any more of her foot.  'I hate it when Roshi is right.  He's never going...  What am I saying?  Roshi is dead!  Oh, I am such an idiot.'  Kit thought as she tried to hold back her tears.

Raimu flipped her back over and held a handful of capsules out in front of her nose.  "All that was in your bag were these little grenade things."

"Right... 'Grenades?  They look like grenades?'  Kit questioned for a moment before she realized what the heck he was talking about.  "Oh, those aren't grenades, those are capsules, some of them have food in them."

"And the rest have bombs, or warning beacons to summon your comrades?"

"NO!  The rest have medical supplies in them.  I am not here to hurt you people.  By the fates!  You two are worse than Ichigo and she hardly trusts anyone!"

Raimu suddenly picked Kit up by the front of her grav-suit and glared into her face.  "It is not wise to joke about such things!  Blizzard's men have been spreading lies that the Princess fled battle and left us to die.  Many believe them, but it does not matter, either way the Princess is gone and you could not know her."

"AHHHH!! Put me down! I'm not lying to you!  I know Princess Ichigo!  She's here right now fighting with Blizzard!"

* * *

Goshu slowly brought his hand up to wipe his lip and was fairly surprised to see a good amount of blood on his hand from a split lip.

The Chartashan didn't hold back any as he tried to take advantage of Goshu's distraction.  

Goshu, however, wasn't nearly as distracted as he appeared to be, and easily caught the larger warrior's arm and stopped it.

"So you claim to be fighting for yourself?  If that is true then I highly suggest you leave now."  Goshu asked as he glared into the large warriors beady red eyes.

The Chartashan brought his knee up in reply.  Goshu blocked it with his own knee, but not fast enough.  The slightly deflected knee drove deep into Goshu's side, forcing the air out of his lungs and bruising his ribs.

"I'm not leaving until I've killed you for getting in my way!"

The Chartashan head-butted Goshu, and he once again saw stars for a moment.

Goshu landed on his rear in the grass, leaving a fairly large indentation.

Nail helped him to his feet.  "Pardon my worries, but shouldn't you be the one beating him?"

"Nail, use your senses not your eyes.  He has yet to hurt me, while he is burning up ki every second we fight.  Besides, he isn't my main concern."  Goshu replied as he brushed himself off.

"Oh really, then what may I ask is?"  Nail asked sounding quite unconvinced.

"Right now, my concern is that we are out of time, or can't you sense Ichigo is rapidly losing her fight?"

"Yeah, I feel it."  Nail nodded, "how long do you expect before they start this way?"

Goshu grabbed Nail's arm, and jumped out of the way before the Chartashan could land on the two of them.

"I don't expect them to, once Ichigo is dead, they will have no reason to stay here.  However, whether they blow up the planet or not is a concern."  Goshu looked directly into Nail's eyes.  "Get as many of the Saiyans as you can, but get Max, Slip, and Kit and get the hell off this planet now.  Ten minutes from now might be too late!"

"What about you?" Nail asked as Goshu pushed him away.

"I'll worry about myself!  Now go!"

* * * 

"For the last time, I'm here with Ichigo trying to rescue you idiots, but if you won't believe me would you at least let me go?  I do not particularly wish to spend the rest of my life imprisoned by people I was trying to help!"  Kit yelled back.

The Saiyan woman, Orenji, started laughing.

"What the heck is so funny?"  Kit screamed after losing what little patience she had started with.

"If you think we are just going to let you go, so that you can go get more of your compatriots, then you truly are the dumbest person I have ever met."  Orenji replied haughtily.

Kit was by this point in time so angry she had started to mumble back to herself.  "I could have listened to Roshi.  I could have stayed home on Earth like Roshi told me to and hung out with Mariah.  Or, I could have stayed up on the dang ship, but Nooooo I had to go play hero for a bunch of paranoid! Untrusting! Saiyans who are probably afraid of their own shadows!  I hate it when Roshi is right!"

Raimu bent down to look into Kit's face.  "Normally people who are bound have the intelligence not to mock their captors, but then most people would not have been knocked out by the pipe we had above the door."

"YES!  See, I'm not a warrior!  I'm not!  Could you please let me go now?"

"So who is this Roshi person?  He your commander?"

'What should I tell them?'  Kit thought to herself frantically before she started to talk.  "Ah no, Roshi is a Saiyan.  He came here with Ichigo to help fight Blizzard."

"Roshi is not a Saiyan name."  Orenji said quickly.

"I know that!  He was raised on Earth.  He is descended from the Vegeta family" Kit started talking faster knowing how that the name Vegeta probably wouldn't be the most accepted one on Saiya.  They fought Changelings long ago and were the people who killed Frieza and Cold."

"Who were Frieza and Cold?  Those are not any Changelings I have ever heard of."  Raimu scoffed.

Kit sighed and wondered if things could get any worse.

* * *  

Goshu backhanded the green warrior, knocking the Chartashan back and away from the bunker where Nail, Slip, and Max were desperately trying to evacuate as many people as they could.

Goshu was about to fire off a large Kamehameha when he sensed something that stopped him dead. "What in the hell?"

Goshu did a double take and whipped his head around to look north; where on the other side of the planet, two new sources of ki could now be felt.

'That feels like Roshi. That can't be Roshi.'  Even though his senses confirmed that it truly was Roshi, Goshu had trouble believing it truly was his son back from the dead.  He had felt the final burst and release of energy in Roshi's passing.  He knew Roshi was dead.  Even in a world with Dragonballs and great stories of people and even whole planets coming back to life, it was hart to truly accept that Roshi might actually be back.

Goshu's mind kept focusing back on Roshi.  'It really is Roshi.  Roshi is back and he is with... That's Buu! How in the heck did Roshi end up with Buu?'

Any further thoughts were put on hold as Goshu remembered he was fighting the Chartashan and had to keep moving. As it was, he had paused long enough for the Chartashan to dig himself out of the ground.

"You're starting to really piss me off Saiyan!" The Chartashan bellowed as he threw his arm back over his head and began to charge a pulsating green orb of energy.

The orb of ki glimmered as waves of ki blazed around the dark green warrior.  "Now you die!  Ripcord!"  He shouted as he threw the sphere of energy.  The attack spread out like a whip or lasso as it raced towards Goshu.

Goshu did not even attempt to block the attack, he hardly had the time to move out of the way as it sliced though the air leaving an acrid stench of ozone in it's wake.

Several of Blizzard's henchmen warriors who had waited around to watch the battle were vaporized when the chord of ki slammed into the ground throwing up a billow of dust and dirt as the very ground was riven in twain.

The Chartashan was breathing heavily and sweating profusely as Goshu launched a Kamehameha back at the warrior.

The Chartashan dodged the beam, but not the follow up Masenko, which drove him back and surrounded him in smoke.

Goshu used the moment of time to fly to where Nail and the two women worked.  "Roshi is back, he might have bought us some time, but no more than a few minutes hurry on you task."

* * *

Ichigo watched as Roshi deftly blocked Ice and Chill again before hastily dodging an attack from Blizzard.  Their fight danced through the air in a pattern, which was both awe inspiring and nerve wracking to watch.  If they were not trying to kill each other, it would have almost beautiful.

Ichigo focused her mind and thought of everything the Changelings had cost her:  Her father, her mother's portrait, all her friends, and all the destruction on Saiya.  She used those thoughts to fuel her anger as she pooled her energy.

"aaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"  She screamed as she tried in vain to push herself back to the level of a Super Saiyan.  Try as she might, however, she just did not have the energy to push herself over the brink.  It was as if there was a large impassible precipice to reach the level of Super Saiyan.  It was a precipice, which she could not cross.

Even the attempt left her winded.  Ichigo looked through the frosty clouds of her own breath and watched Roshi get kicked in the face by Blizzard.

"Roshi needs my help."  Ichigo said as though she was realizing it for the very first time.  'Ever since I have known him he has been there for me, and now that he needs my help I am too weak to be there for him.'  She thought to herself.

"No!  I am still a Saiyan!  As long as my heart beats and my blood flows I will fight.  No one can take that away from me.  Not with anything!"  Ichigo said as she launched herself into the battle.  

Ichigo knew she had gotten stronger from being a Super Saiyan.  Nearly dying had also helped her.  Like all Saiyans she had gained from such things.  She now guessed her power level was around 750,000 to 800,000.  At Kaio-Ken times twenty that was fifteen to sixteen million.  It was nothing near the forty million she had decided Roshi now fought at, but it was nothing to scoff at either.

"KAIO-KEN" Ichigo screamed as she flew up before Ice, "Thunder Flash!"

Ice had not even realized Ichigo was there before Ichigo had boxed the Changelings ears and eyes in with the brilliantly bright and loud explosion characteristic of the attack.

Even with the blast pointed away from her, the bright blue-white flash scorched Ichigo's retinas and left her seeing dancing yellow pin pricks of light.

Remembering that first lesson in the Gravity Room of the Capsule Corp well, Ichigo closed her eyes and ignored the false image of the flash.  She focused on what her ki senses were telling her and knew that while she had to contend with annoying yellow afterimages, Ice was both blind and deaf for the time being.

Ichigo spun around and out of the way, which allowed Chill to kick Ice in the throat, rather than the back of Ichigo's head.

Unfortunately for Ichigo, Chill just used Ice as a springboard to flip backwards into a spin that drove him directly at Ichigo.  She tried to get out of the way, but she just was not fast enough in comparison to the small and spry blue Changeling.

Chill caught her by the shoulders and drove his head into her forehead.  Ichigo saw more than just a few dancing after images this time.

When her eyes finally returned to focus, Chill stood over her with his right hand above his head.  His fingers were splayed out and taunt as if her were clutching a large unseen ball.  Then, small yet brightly glowing points of light appeared at the tip of each of his three fingers and thumb.

"Blizzard wanted to kill you himself, but he is rather busy right now with the real Super Saiyan, so I guess I'll have the honor of killing you wench!"

Chill brought his fingertips to a point and a larger flaming point of ki grew.

Ichigo smirked.  "Not this time."  She said, as Roshi slammed feet first into Chill's nose.  Roshi stood on Chill's head for about a hundred meters as Chill slid, gouged a furrow into, and bounced over the snowy terrain before finally coming to a stop.

Chill's purple-blue death beam lanced out and slammed into Roshi's side just below his armpit.  It sliced though his gi like a katana through silk, but dissipated harmlessly against his skin.

Roshi would have pressed his advantage, if it were not for Blizzard who finally caught up with him and forced him away from Chill.

"Plasma Beam!!"  Ichigo screamed as she shot the enormous searing hot beam at the still prone Chill.  The pink beam vaporized a trail of snow and ice, which turned instantly into steam and then quickly back to frost to coat the nearby trees in white.  Chill had just started to get up when the beam slammed into him and forced him back.

A dark royal purple aura grew around Chill as he fought to protect himself from the beam.

Ichigo held the beam as long as possible, but she knew when she released it that it had not been nearly long enough to kill Chill.

'I need to fight harder!  I cannot give in now!  This is my world.  I am fighting for my people.  I... I...' Ichigo's thoughts faltered as she caught sight of something glinting through the ice.  "My pendant."

* * *

Goshu's thoughts kept drifting off to the North where Roshi and Ichigo fought.  'Buu is now gone, but Ichigo has not returned to the level of a Super Saiyan.  Something must be wrong.  I may need to go help them.'

The Chartashan was gathering energy for a large attack again.  This time the energy was pooling between his clenched hands in an ominous yellow ripple of energy.

Goshu took quick note of his surroundings.  'If I am to be of any help for Roshi, I need to end this now.' He thought as he decided the terrain had already been torn up and he would not be doing too much damage with a Bakuhatsuha.

Seeing that the Chartashan seemed to be about to fire, Goshu gathered some energy and concentrated.  He then put his right hand out palm up and flicked two fingers up into his palm as if motioning a come hither.

The Chartashan laughed and started flying forward, right into the effect of the Bakuhatsuha.  Ground exploded in all directions of Goshu and a huge plume of dust was blown into the air.  Caught within the dust cloud, neither Goshu nor the Chartashan could see each other.  This, however, was not a problem for Goshu.

Goshu silently charged a Kamehameha.

* * *

Ichigo had stopped moving.  This worried Roshi quite a bit.  People who do not move on a battlefield tend to attract attention.

Roshi jerked to the right and twisted over a pink Death Ray.  Even if they could not cut into him as they were intended, the beams still hurt.

'Well as long as Blizzard is worried about me, he won't be bothering Ichigo.'  Roshi thought as he spun through the air to launch a Kienzian at Blizzard.

Ichigo was kneeling now.  Her energy was building, but Roshi could feel her strain just to push it as high as it was.  She would not make it to Super Saiyan in this attempt.

Roshi ducked under a poorly aimed blow and saw Ice fly up to kick Ichigo in the side.  Ichigo fell hard onto her right arm and slid to a stop against a nearby tree.

Roshi could feel Ice gather energy for an attack.  Ichigo just wasn't getting up fast enough.

"Damn it! Ichigo move!"  Roshi yelled as Blizzard came up behind him.  Blizzard was starting a roundhouse punch, but he had gotten too close to Roshi.  "Damn it I don't have time for this!"  Roshi yelled as he glanced over his back.

Roshi shot his left arm back and spurred his fingertips into Blizzard's larynx.  He then in one smooth motion grabbed Blizzard by the base of his jaw and heaved the Changeling over his back and brought Blizzard's face down onto his knee, which he had charged with ki energy much like Ichigo's Ki Punch.

The armor plate that covered Blizzard's nose and mouth shattered and Roshi felt the warmth of blood flow onto his knee, but at the moment it did not matter.  Blizzard was left stunned, to fall face first into the snow as Roshi flew down to block Ice's attack.

Ice launched a dazzlingly bright red spear of ki at Ichigo.

'I'm too late.' Roshi thought, as Ichigo trust her arm out at the beam.

"Ki Wall!"  Ichigo yelled as a shimmering plane of ki suddenly grew out of her left hand.

Ice's beam slammed into the wall and shattered harmlessly.

Ichigo rolled over and thrust her right arm out.  "Blaze!"

Roshi winced as Ice was enveloped in the searing hot flames created by that attack.  It wasn't enough to kill the Changeling, but she was definitely not going to like it.

Roshi landed and punted Ice in the stomach.  The air was thrust from her lungs as she was sent at least one hundred meters away.

"You ok?"  Roshi asked as he pulled Ichigo to her feet.

Ichigo shook her head.  "Yes, but no."  Ichigo sighed.  "Roshi, I tried.  I just cannot find the strength to go Super Saiyan again."

Roshi spread his senses out and realized that the three Changelings were now grouped together in a discussion.  This worried him, but not nearly as much as the forlorn look on Ichigo's face.

"Ichigo, I know you can.  You were a Super Saiyan.  I know it is hard, but your father believed in you, I believe in you, your friend... ah Sakura believes in you.  Forget everything I ever told you about controlling your temper.  Let yourself get angry.  You have it in you."

"But I did.  I tried.  I cannot.  Not alone at least.  I realized I never in all this time ever asked you once for help.  I demanded it, I expected it, but I never once asked for it.  Please Roshi, help me."

* * *

The three Saiyans had walked to the far end of the aisle to discus something.  Which left Kit alone to glare at them.

'Stupid, arrogant, bigoted, idiots, their pride blinds them from accepting anything but what they already know or want to be true.' 

Raimu lead them back to where they had tied Kit up and just stood there for a minute before Kit finally broke down and asked him what was on her mind.  "Well, have you realized I'm not trying to kill you yet?"

"As long as you remain bound as you are, you will be no threat, so we are going to leave you like that." Orenji replied sullenly.

"Oh you have got to be joking!"  Kit exclaimed in udder disgust before she shook her head in defeat.  "I'm going to die here."  She said to herself sullenly.

As if agreeing with her, her suit suddenly beeped.  "Warning, battery low.  Five minutes of power remaining.  Warning, battery low."

"What is that?  Why are you beeping?"  Raimu asked looking defensive.

Kit sighed, "It means I'm dead in five minutes, that's what it means."  Kit closed her eyes and grimaced.  'Fate, you're supposed to smile down on people every once in a while you heinous bitch.'

* * *

Ichigo did not like the forlorn deadpan that had come over Roshi's face.

Roshi shook his head.  "Why now?  Why of all the things you could ask for you have do ask me for something I can't give you?"

Ichigo controlled her impulse to hit him.  'Why is it that he is the most aggravating person in existence?'  She asked herself as she glared at him.  "But you have to know something!  You were able to go Super Saiyan again, why am I unable?"

Roshi shook his head and opened his mouth as if to say something, only to shut it again.  He looked like he was mentally debating with himself over what to say.  "Because you do not believe you can.  Your greatest weakness has always been your doubt, and if you cannot overcome it then you will make everything Blizzard ever said to you to be true."

Roshi suddenly moved forward and grabbed Ichigo's hands.  Until the warmth of his aura hit her, she had not realized how cold her hands had gotten.  Roshi pried open her right hand and plucked the crushed and broken fragment of her mother's pendant from her hands.  "This pendant was important to you because it was a symbol of your people.  Well, you are a symbol too.  I thought Saiyans never gave up.  I thought they didn't know how to quit.  If you need help finding something that can only be found by you within your own soul, then this is about as valuable as Blizzard says it is."  Roshi finished as he chucked the piece of the pendant over his shoulder.

Ichigo didn't even pause to think.  She just hit him in the middle of his fat lying mouth.

Roshi spat blood.  "Fuck!  I think you broke my tooth!  Oh and congrats on making it back to Super Saiyan."  

Ichigo stopped her ki charged fist about a centimeter from Roshi's left eye.  She blinked.  'I am a Super Saiyan... but how?  I did not even feel the change.'  Ichigo watched as Roshi flew back and picked up the piece of the pendant he had thrown.  'Damn it I hate how he can manipulate me so easily.'

Roshi spit another mouthful of blood into the snow.  "You have a nice right cross.  Would have been better used on Blizzard though."

"You stupid jerk, what did you expect me to do after you said stuff like that?"

"Ah well, I sorta expected I would be able to block you."

"Brilliant plan, now give me my pendant back."

Roshi handed it over and then spit in the snow again.  Ichigo could see that she had not in-fact broken any of his teeth, which she almost wished she had, but had split his lip and caused him to bite his tongue.

'Asshole deserves every bit of it too.  I hate how he always knows just what to say and how to say it.' She thought as Roshi bent to pick up several more pieces of the pendant.  

He stood up and handed them all over to her.  "You will want to keep these.  After we kick Blizzard's ass you will want the pendant reforged."

Ichigo did not say anything in reply.

Roshi put both of his hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes.  "Ichigo, I'm sorry I said those things.  I didn't for a second believe any of that.  But I...  I'm sorry I had to hurt you."

Ichigo knew he was telling the truth now.  Pure worried compassion flooded his eyes.  Ichigo shook her head and looked away.  She found it unbearable to look into his eyes when he looked like he did now.

"Whatever, Blizzard is mine."

Roshi caught her arm as she started to fly towards the conversing Changelings.  "Ichigo, use your speed.  You do not have to over power them.  Whatever you do, though, don't use the Kaio-Ken again, it will kill you."

Ichigo rolled her eyes.  "I know.  I won't this time.  I knew it would last time too, only last time I didn't care."

* * *

The Chartashan proved to be more gifted than he had seemed, as he dodged out of the dust storm and away from the Kamehameha.

"Stupid Saiyan, I can sense ki too.  I am not blind and dumb like Blizzard.  You will have to try much harder than that to do me in."  He taunted as he lobbed several more green blasts in Goshu's direction.

Goshu dodged to the right, up and away from the comets of energy, but they swerved to follow him.

"Fly Saiyan, they will follow you!"

"So will mine!"  Goshu sneered as he shot two green Tsuihikidan blasts at the Chartashan.  The Tsuihikidan was an attack developed by the original Piccolo and was every bit as dangerous as a Masenko.  The only real difference was the Tsuihikidan took longer to charge and would follow it's target until it hit something and exploded.

Having seen homing attacks be used to home in on the person who sent them many times before, Goshu was not surprised to see the Chartashan take off directly at him.

Goshu smirked.  'Good, just what I wanted.'

While Gotenks went down in history as being a highly ineffective fighter, a few of his attacks had been improved on.  One of them was the Ghost Image.  Based on the Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack, it had been perfected by Trunk's Grandson Vegeta Jr.  

Goshu split in two.  Both looked real.  Both felt real to anyone who could sense ki.  One of them was real; the other was a ki bomb.

Goshu spun off to the right and dropped his ki down to nearly nothing while continuing to fly nearly directly at the Chartashan.

As expected, the Chartashan thought he was a decoy or fake and flew at the Ghost Image.

The Explosion of the Ghost Image followed by the Chartashan's attacks and the Tsuihikidans was quite spectacular.

* * *

Ichigo slammed her knee into Blizzard's face three times in a row, only to flip over his right arm as it groped for a target and missed her.  Ichigo heel kicked him on the top of his head, directly behind his crown of spikes and then slid behind him to drive her fists into his kidneys.

"And here I thought a Changeling would be more difficult to beat than this."  She said into his ear as she leapt over his tail to knee him in the stomach.

"I'll kill you yet you annoying fly!  How dare you mock me!"  Blizzard roared as he charged his hands with ki and started peppering the air around him with small blasts.

Several of them hit Ichigo, but they were only glancing blows, and they did no real damage beyond dirtying her gi.  "That seems highly unlikely.  But if you insist."  She said moments before she lobbed off several Star Rippers at him.  Two of the incredibly fragile ki blasts were caught and destroyed by Blizzard's shotgun fire of blasts, but one got through to slam into Blizzard's right side.  Hundreds of tiny lacerations appeared on his right arm and side.  They scuffed the brilliant polish off of his blood red armor and cut into his purple-pink flesh.  Pink blood began to seep out of his side as Blizzard screamed in agony.

"You abound in cruelty and pain.  It is only justice that some is given back to you.  Roshi warned you to leave.  Now I will kill you bit by bit until you have suffered and wish for your death.  That was for sending Banana after me."

Ichigo twisted her index and middle fingers and shot off a Drill Beam.  The red and white beam struck Blizzard in the left side of his chest and gouged out a chunk of flesh.  Two more took chunks out of his thigh and back.  "Those were for Snow and the damage she did to Roshi's home."

Ichigo started to charge a Plasma Beam, but Roshi flew up and kicked Blizzard hard in the side.  The kick sent him cartwheeling into the frozen ground, but also pushed him out of the way of the attack, which Ichigo held as to not hit Roshi. 

"I said Blizzard was mine!"  Ichigo yelled at him.

"I know, but I am not about to watch you sink to his level!"  Roshi spat back.  Beat him, kill him if you can, but don't sink to his level!"

Ichigo seethed, 'this is my world, how dare he tell me what I can and cannot do.  Of all the arrogant condescending things he can do.'  She glared at Roshi and wished not for the first time that he would just shut the hell up. "I'm not sinking to his level.  He deserves ever bit of what I am doing to him now.  He tortured my father and my friends!  This is justice!"

"That isn't justice, it is vengeance.  In the end it will only gnaw on your soul.  Don't lessen yourself to his level."  Roshi yelled back pleadingly.

"I don't care!  I want him to suffer!  I want him to rue the day he chose to come here!"  Ichigo looked away.  Ice and Chill were just starting to dig themselves out of the holes Roshi had knocked them into.  They were not even a threat any longer.  None of them really were.  It was almost sad that the Changelings had been brought down so quickly.  

Ichigo looked back at Roshi, who was looking at her in a way that seemed to look right into her soul.  'Who asked you to be my conscience?  Why do you care how I kill him?  He needs to die.  He needs to die painfully.'

"I will not be beaten by Monkeys!"  Blizzard screamed from the ground where he stood.  He opened his mouth and fired off a huge puissant purple blast of ki.  It shot out in a cone that almost caught Ichigo.

Ichigo flipped away from the oncoming blast, only to watch as Roshi was caught by it.

The cone of purple energy bulged even further where it hit Roshi.  Soon the bulge grew to a swelled protuberance of moving ki, which shot down towards Blizzard's mouth.  When it reached Blizzard's gaping mouth, and explosion of yellow burst forth as Roshi exploded out of the wake of the blast to slam his fist into the point of Blizzard's jaw.

The blast ended instantly as Blizzard arched through the air to bounce off of a tree and fall onto his knees.

"Face it Blizzard, you've been beaten.  Your energy is dropping so much now that you are not even a challenge."

"Nooo!"  Blizzard screamed in rage as he took to the air.  "I won't be killed by Monkeys!"

Blizzard trust his right arm into the air and started to gather energy.  A huge pearlescent red ball of ki soon started to grow.

"That won't work Blizzard.  You can't blow up the planet.  Ichigo or I will just catch the blast."  Roshi replied.

"Oh really?  Catch this!"  Chill yelled as he threw a blue ball of ki directly at the planet below him.

Ichigo spurred herself to even greater than normal speed and caught the ball before Roshi was even halfway too it.

The sphere of Ki was massive, Ichigo guessed it was at least 50 meters across, and it had a lot of momentum.  It slammed her into the ground and forced her through the frozen soil.

'Just like Roshi and Snow on Earth.  This is just like Roshi and Snow on Earth.  I can stop this.  I have to stop this.  I will stop this.'

With that final thought, Ichigo felt herself stop moving backward and start to push the Ki blast back.

* * *

Roshi felt Ichigo struggling.  He knew he could help her, but he also knew that she could do it herself, more, that she needed to do it herself.  He turned and smirked at Blizzard when the blast started to move back away from the ground.

"Leave, you have been beaten.  Just leave.  Don't disgrace yourself further."

Blizzard continued to build his ki blast.  "Is that so little Monkey?  Only one of us has to be successful for the planet to die.  I am gathering more energy every second we talk.  I do admit you are strong, but are you strong enough?  Can you stop my Planetbuster?  I highly doubt it.  Oh, and even if you could.  There are only two of you, and three of us.  I want to see you block three Attacks at once."

Roshi looked to see Ice building a huge white blast, and Chill starting to build another blue one.

"Oh fuck."  Roshi replied dejectedly just as a flare of ki grew into his awareness.

"Hey, what did we miss, we'da been here sooner but you idiots moved the fight a long way from the city."  The dual voice of Boxee said as the fusion looked around.  "Oh, looks like the Changelings are getting desperate.  Ok, time to pull out all the stops."

There was a yellow explosion and Boxee went Super Saiyan.

'Why did I know they were going to do something like that?'  Roshi glared at him.  "How long?"

"Since on the trip here, but only when we are fused."  Boxee smirked as though he had just told the best joke in the history of mankind.

Ichigo flew up, looked at Boxee and then looked up at Blizzard.  "It looks like the odds have just evened out a bit.  Throw the blasts or not, either way you three are going to die here."

'Note to self, never trust a Fusion.' Roshi thought to himself as he looked from Ichigo to Boxee to the three Changelings.  'I hate standoffs.'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * 

:)

Well I am sorry it took so long... School is a pain...  And Girlfriends are highly distracting.


	56. Truth and Promises

Chapter 56 (revised)

Truth and Promises

Day One in the Month of Strength, 18:25

"Ichigo is right, you had your chance, now it seems this fight will only end in your death." Roshi replied moments before Ichigo felt his ki start to build.

Ichigo watched Blizzard carefully. 'He is desperate. An animal is most dangerous when they are desperate. I must not fail now.' Ichigo calmed her mind. 

"You filthy little Saiyans disgust me!" Blizzard yelled down at them. "You are nothing compared to me. I am a destroyer of worlds. Billions have died at my feet! You are no different. I'll destroy this planet and laugh at your ashes!"

Roshi started to open his mouth to speak, but Ichigo held up her hand, and he stopped.

"No Blizzard, it is you and your kind who are nothing. You are nothing and you do not even understand how it happened. I saw the message you sent my father. You attacked us out of fear. You were afraid even before you came here."

Blizzard shook with fury and looked as though he were about to throw his massive ball of ki down on Ichigo. "Shut up! Shut up! I fear no one and nothing! You insignificant bitch!"

Ichigo just shook her head. "Insignificant? No Blizzard, if I were insignificant you would not be frightened. You would not have come here if we Saiyans were insignificant. You would not have sent Banana and Snow after me if you thought I was insignificant."

Ichigo paused to glare up at Blizzard. "I am Ichigo Kudamono. I was born Crown Princess, but you made me Queen. You fear me and you fear my people. Shout and swagger all you like. I can see you trembling."

Ichigo looked at Roshi and saw him nodding in agreement. "Your time is over Blizzard. Whether you throw that ki blast or not you are not hurting another soul." Roshi yelled up to him.

"Yeah, 'cause Roshi's going to kick your ass and wipe the floor with you. And when he's done we'll finish you off!" Boxee added while he too started to charge a ki blast.

Blizzard just laughed. "You don't get it. Your stupid insignificant monkey brains cannot grasp the truth. You can't stop me! Nothing can stop me! Nothing!" Blizzard screamed as he floated directly over Roshi.

"Nothing huh?" Roshi called up to him. "Well it's about time I introduce you to nothing! KA... ME... HA..."

Ichigo never took her eyes off of Blizzard, but she felt Roshi pull his hands back and start to charge the attack. As the energy he was building grew, he spread his arms wider apart, yet continued to charge the brilliant blue beam. The Kamehameha was not a perfect attack. It was not useful in all situations, and all attacks have drawbacks. But the Kamehameha was very powerful in that it allowed a person to focus their ki into the attack.

Roshi was focusing everything he had into his Kamehameha.

The sheer amount of energy she was sensing forced Ichigo to glance at him for a moment. Roshi's hands were a bit more than half a meter apart with a ball of scintillating blue light shimmering between them. The charge of his aura and the surrounding air caused lightning bolts to arc from the sky to play over him as rays of light shot though his fingers casting odd shadows on his face.

"Ah!" Ichigo exclaimed as she was forced to yank her eyes away and move. Ice had chosen the exact moment Ichigo had looked away to throw her massive ki ball at the planet.

'SHIT I cannot let myself get distracted. The slightest distraction now could destroy everything.' Ichigo chastised herself as she literally cut a swath through the air to reach the massive ki blast before it could reach the ground.

The sonic boom caught up with her a few seconds later, causing the ground to shake and snow to fly up in her wake. Some of the snow splashed onto the surface of the ki ball. The snow instantly vaporized and then re-froze in the frigid air. This surrounded Ichigo in a veil of frosty white fog.

The fog blocked her eyes, and Ice's tremendous unwieldy ball of ki blocked out her senses as she struggled to push the monumental amount of ki back. For the first time in what seemed like a very long time to her at the moment, Ichigo was cut off and blind to what was happening around her.

'Please Roshi, Please stop Blizzard. I'm counting on you.'

* * *

"...MEEEE..." Roshi held the Kamehameha while continuing to charge more energy into it, and watched Blizzard as he hovered above and a bit to the south of him. 

To his left, Ichigo was slowly but steadily pushing Ice's large purple-white ball of ki away. Likewise, Boxee was busy with the gigantic ball of blue energy Chill had thrown.

Roshi noted what was going on and then glared up at Blizzard. It was time to finish this battle. He had had enough. There was a time for talking and then there was a time for action. While he would have preferred for a battle of words to be the only battle he would have to fight, he knew that words without action to back them up were meaningless. He was sick of Blizzard's arrogance. He was sick of Blizzard's mocking tone. He was sick of the words. He was sick of Blizzard and now was the time for action. There was absolutely no way he was going to be letting that ki blast get anywhere near Saiya's surface.

"Whether you throw that or not, you're time is up Blizzard. HAAA!!!!" Roshi shouted up at Blizzard as he released the energy he had built up for the Kamehameha in one magnificent blast of azure blue energy.

At the same moment as Roshi shouted his threat up at Blizzard, the large red Changeling released the excessive ball of shimmering purple and green energy.

Blizzard threw his hands up and sent the sphere of energy heading to a higher altitude. It slowly picked up speed as it traveled upward and away from Roshi.

Then, at nearly the last moment Blizzard dodged Roshi's Kamehameha.

Though Roshi could not see what was going on above the comet-like front end of his Kamehameha, he could still feel it and thus with his senses he knew what Blizzard was doing. He had a moment to choose to attack the ki blast or Blizzard.

'If he moves that thing to a higher orbit I might not be able to stop it when he throws it back down.' Roshi realized in an instant. Blizzard was spent. The only true threat was the leviathan-sized sphere of ki.

Rather than expend the effort to redirect his Kamehameha at Blizzard he just let it slam into the underside of Blizzard's massive orb of ki. When the Kamehameha hit the sphere it rolled forming a large half sphere shaped cone of energy, which beat against the solidified outer shell of ki that made up Blizzard's attack.

A Kamehameha wave was one of the faster moving massive beam attacks. While a Big Bang or Final Flash could put out more energy in less time, the Kamehameha moved far faster and was stronger at longer distances.

As such the impact with Blizzard's attack pushed the massive ball of ki faster and farther out of the atmosphere. As it rushed through the clouds an expanding circle of clear sky opened up in the blast's wake.

Blizzard's attack picked up speed while it slowly absorbed the energy from the Kamehameha and grew. It appeared to grow smaller as it soured higher and higher up into the mid-day sky. 'There, that's not coming back.' Roshi smirked as he turned his full attention on Blizzard and his goons.

"Admit it Blizzard, you're finished. Your reign of tyranny and death is at an end."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet.

The Explosion of the Ghost Image when it slammed into the Chartashan and his attacks only to then be hit moments later by the two Tsuihikidans was quite spectacular. So spectacular in fact, that it blinded Goshu for a moment. Aside from that small problem everything went just about as Goshu had planned as the explosion nearly destroyed the Chartashan. As it was, the large warrior was knocked back and then thrown through the air as though he were a rag doll tossed by a hurricane.

After only a moment's hesitation to blink his eyes clear, Goshu twisted to his right and spun down through the air to maintain his momentum as he zeroed in on the large hunter green warrior. The Chartashan had just regained control of his flight through the air and was struggling to focus his ki and find his opponent when Goshu flipped himself around and drove his right heel deep into the large thick hided warrior's back.

The Chartashan had been steadily losing power since their fight had begun so it was of very little surprise to Goshu when he felt several of the vertebras in the green warrior's back pop and break under the sudden impact.

The Chartashan folded backwards over Goshu's leg as his spine simply broke in two. The impact from the force of the kick sent the green warrior plummeting into the ground, where he lay folded backwards. Goshu cautiously flew down and landed before him.

"Kill me." The Chartashan pleaded though bloody lips as he gasped in pain barely able to breathe.

Goshu stared down at him silently and slowly shook his head.

"Damn you Saiyan! You won. You beat me. Now finish the deed. Don't leave me to suffer like this!" He begged before he was racked with a fit of bloody coughs.

Goshu shook his head, "No, I think not. I gave you mercy and you did not take it earlier. You will bleed to death quickly enough as it is. I see no need to ease your passing by killing the defenseless." Goshu said as he absentmindedly pulled his tattered gi vest off to toss it on the ground next to the fallen warrior. "Take the time to reflect on you life. It is all you have left."

* * *

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Kit wished she could take them back. Raimu's eyes bulged in apprehension for a moment as he first backed a few steps away and then boldly walked forward to grab her by the front of her gravsuit. "What do you mean by that? Why will you be dead in five minutes? Why are you beeping?" He demanded while looking both frightened and furious at the same time.

"I... my... suit… this suit is all that's keeping the gravity on this planet from crushing me." Kit said as she bobbed her head so she could poke her chin into the shoulder strap of the gravsuit. "That beeping is the warning telling me that the battery is low. Like I said, I have about four and a half minutes now."

Raimu looked at her skeptically. "And so you think we should let you go? Not likely."

Kit let out a defeated whimper. 'I brought it on myself. I made Roshi promise but then I went against my own promise. Why do I never listen to reason?' Taking a deep breath she looked directly into Raimu's eyes. "No, I don't expect you would do that. I would however hope that you would stop being afraid of your own shadows and take a step out of the womb. Even though Saiyans are some of the most powerful people in the universe that does not mean you as a race are and can continue to simply distrust the rest of the universe. I have not lied to you once. Remember that."

"Oh, just shut up!" Orenji scolded snidely from the back. "In my opinion you have lived several minutes longer than you needed too in the first place so your pathetic plea falls on deaf ears."

Kit slowly rolled her head up to look directly into Orenji's eyes. "Deaf, or just dumb?"

Kit was certain she was about to die as the now incensed Saiyan woman pulled back her arm to strike. 

POOF!!

Orenji spun around in an instant as Kit's eyes darted past her to see Ramon sitting on his butt looking at the processed ham and cheddar cheese that had been in the capsule he had opened.

"Oh!" Ramon cheered as he reached out to grab a large piece of ham.

"Ramon no! That's probably drugged!" Orenji yelled before she kicked the food away from the toddler.

Ramon looked as though he were about to burst into tears for half a moment before he grabbed another capsule and slammed it into the ground.

POOF!!

Before the smoke had even cleared, the small boy had grabbed what was in the capsule and started shoving it into his mouth.

"Pttzah! Yucky!" He cried as he tried to spit a medicated gauss pad back out of his mouth.

Orenji looked from the medical supplies to the food and then back to Kit with an expression bordering on shocked disbelief.

"Yes, looky there what do you have? Oh I think we have some food and medical supplies. JUST LIKE I TOLD YOU WAS IN THOSE THINGS!!!" Kit screamed at the top of her lungs no longer really caring whether she lived or not. Even in the end, she just wanted to prove she was right.

"It has to be a trick. It has to be some kind of trick." Orenji said mostly to herself as she bent down to look at the supplies and then smell the cheese as if trying to detect some form of poison.

"Oh lay off it lady! You are so frickin' paranoid that if Ichigo herself were to show up and tell you to eat the damn food and untie me you would claim it was someone in a costume or an android or possibly even some sort of fucking damn mirage or hallucination! I haven't been lying and I'm down right sick of you people treating me like the enemy when I tried to help you so for the sake of whatever the hell you people find holy!  Would you please untie me and follow me to my ship so we can get the hell out of here?"

Raimu looked at her inquisitively before turning to his wife. "I do not know what kind of meat this is, but it is salty and right now it tastes better than Sartan." He stated before taking another large bite of some ham and quickly swallowing it. "We have been hiding like frightened prey for days now. Her story is too farfetched to be anything but true. You stay here with Ramon while I follow the girl to her ship. If it is a trap we will know soon enough. Either way it is better than hiding any longer."

Orenji glared at Raimu and then at Kit. "I hate it when you are right. Untie her and go, but so help me if anything happens it will take a Changeling to keep me from skinning her alive."

'I take it all back. Whatever strange twist of fate this is I like it. I take it all back.' Kit thought to herself silently as Raimu untied her. "Heh heh, funny thing, Ichigo threatened to do the same thing. Actually she said she'd turn me into a pair of fuzzy slippers." Kit joked in an effort to lighten the mood some.

It did not work.

* * *

The wind was starting to pick up. It greedily grabbed up snow and dust from the ground. The flakes of snow impeded vision and occasionally during the gusts, there was even enough of it to cut through Roshi's aura and bite at his skin. Roshi rubbed his hands together to warm them for a moment before he turned his full attention back to the fight.

Roshi watched with a satisfied smirk as first Ichigo and then Boxee pushed the two massive planet busting attacks back and then threw them up and away from the planet.

"Your time is over Blizzard. We've beaten you. The only thing that awaits you here is death. Leave and never return." Roshi demanded stately though the now raging snowstorm.

"Ah, let 'em stay, I say it's time for some slice and dice!" Boxee added as he pulled out Trunks' sword.

Ichigo brushed her hands off on her thighs and floated up between Roshi and Boxee. "He will not leave. Changelings are even more pride bound than we Saiyans. He will stay and fight to his last. Leave him to me. The very least I can do to bring the vengeance the dead demand and the justice he so rightly deserves is to kill him."

Ichigo then started to fly higher as she shouted, "Fight me Blizzard! We both know you will never leave. Come to me to die now."

"Hmm hmm hmm hmm, glorious isn't it?" Blizzard shouted out to them. "I was named for weather such as this. The wind pulls the heat right from you. It will freeze you to your core."

Roshi followed Ichigo as she flew up closer towards where Blizzard floated in the winter gale. Visibility was scarce with the dense snow blowing so fast that it blocked all sight in a white blur.

Ichigo held her hands up as though she were holding a basketball and a pink glow of energy began to build between her hands. "Oh do not fret Blizzard, you'll be plenty warm in a moment."

Blizzard burst into deep full fledged laughter. "Ah yes, I will be. But I can survive the heat. Can you?"

"What the fuck are you laughing about? We beat you. You're dead you crazy lizard!" Boxee shouted out.

"What am I laughing at? Oh nothing! Nothing at all!"

Roshi knew something was afoot, and it bothered him. He cleared his mind trying to sense his way into understanding. Blizzard was floating not more than 20 meters in front of Ichigo. Chill and Ice floated directly beside him. None of them were building any form of attack. 'What are they trying to do? Why are they stalling?'

"Talk is easy Blizzard. I will not listen to more of this drivel while you continue to exist!" Ichigo yelled moments before she let loose with a large Plasma Beam. The pink-red beam of energy washed over Blizzard before he had even started to move.

"Ichigo stop!" Roshi called out as he began to move forward, "This has got to be some sort of trick. He isn't even trying to dodge."

The Plasma Beam died instantly. "I know. I do not like this."

Blizzard was laughing like a jackal again. "You call that warm? That was nothing!"

Boxee took off directly towards Blizzard, only to be stopped by both Ice and Chill. "Going someplace? I think you aught to listen to Lord Blizzard." Chill sneered. 

"Yes, yes do listen to me. I was just about to tell you all something which I find to be the height of humor." Blizzard laughed again. "You see Saiyan, you are stronger than I. But you are gullible and stupid. In the end stupidity will always lose to cunning." Blizzard said looking directly at Roshi though the howling snow.

"What are you talking about? Roshi's one of the smartest people on our world." Boxee shouted.

"AH delightful!" Blizzard laughed, "Then your world is every bit as doomed as this one is."

"Oh lay off you cantankerous ass. We blocked your attacks. Even if you kept trying you don't have what it takes to destroy this world!" Boxee shouted.

Roshi wasn't quite so certain of Boxee's statement. It was apparent that Ichigo was holding her tongue waiting to see what Blizzard would say, she was however not just floating around, as she appeared to be building an even larger Plasma Beam than she had fired off the first time. With the three of them there was no way Blizzard could beat them. There was no reason for him to be stalling. 

Roshi's head suddenly jerked to the left as his eyes found Boxee. 'Unless he's waiting for the fusion to end that is. How long do they have? And does being a Super Saiyan shorten that time?"

"Enough stalling, it's time to end this. Boxee was right you don't have the power to destroy us, or this world. This ends now!"

Blizzard burst out laughing again. "Oh yes, you are right, but you do. Or should I say did, or maybe perhaps have."

Roshi's Kamehameha flickered away between his hands, dying before it had even fully formed. 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Both he and Ichigo demanded virtually at the same time.

"He hmm hem hmm, it is quite simple really. Alone, when my attack reached your system's star it would have been but a small disruption. It would have made a solar eruption that might have been enough to burn this planet into cosmic gas. But with the speed and power of your attack... Let me just say that it will be an explosive event!"

The wind and snow suddenly cut and slashed at Roshi with the ferocity only nature can bring to bear. 

"Roshi!" Boxee shouted as he pointed to Roshi and then his own hair and then to Roshi again. "Um Super Saiyan. Might be good idea to, you know, not be otherwise right now!"

Roshi blinked a few times before he realized he had dropped out of Super Saiyan.

"Besides it's not true. What Blizzard is saying isn't true right?"

Ichigo looked at him with a numb expression. "It cannot be true. Blizzard would not still be here if the Sun were about to explode. Not even he can live through that much heat and destruction."

"Oh, I am leaving, just after I make sure you and every last Saiyan dies with your pathetic world. I will be long gone when the shockwave gets here. And just ask him." Blizzard laughed again, "He knows. Just look at him. He knows I do not lie now."

Roshi looked up and almost died. Ichigo was looking directly at him. Just the ways she floated there he knew she knew, but at the same time needed him to say otherwise. If only it could be otherwise.

"It's... it's true. I can feel it. It's almost to the sun now." Roshi looked down. "There is nothing I can do to stop it now."

Roshi couldn't bear to look at Ichigo. A year previous he had seen Nighty watch as her puppy ran out onto the street and was run over. The look on Ichigo's face was far too similar, only far worse. 'You just blew up her planet you fucking moron what the hell do you expect her to look like?' He scolded himself before looking back up at her.

Ichigo seemed to be lost in thought but quickly regained her lost focus. "Roshi, Boxee, go home." Ichigo directed as she turned back to face Blizzard.

* * *

Those few warriors who had been fighting Nail had long sense fled when Goshu landed near the large concrete compound where the Saiyan prisoners were being held. Slip rushed past him carrying three unconscious women. She quickly deposited them in one of the capsule-ships and started the autopilot before she jumped out and flew up to him.

"A few of them are starting to wake up now, but they are not cooperating at all so Nail is basically just knocking them out again. We've been loading a hundred or so of them on each ship and sending them up to the Phoenix, but their aren't enough docking collars on the Phoenix to dock all the ships, that and Kit isn't up there like she was supposed to be.  She's over to the west with a different group."

Goshu nodded and then looked to the west, "She hasn't moved for around twenty minutes. I think something is wrong. Go fly over there and see if you can help her. Then get to the Phoenix. The fight down here is done, but I have a bad feeling about what's happening up north."

Slip looked off north for a moment. "Yeah, I was sure Roshi was dead, but he's back. And... well… there's something up. I'll hurry, once we get up into space there will be more time to sort things out." She called over her back as she took off to the west.

Goshu shook his head sadly and walked into the Quonset-like bunker Blizzard had turned into a concentration camp.

* * *

"Oh fuck that idea!" Boxee blurted, "We're not about to just leave in the middle of a fight!"

"No kidding!" Roshi chimed in. "Besides, you can't just throw away your life here, your people need you."

Ichigo spun around and gave him a look that could melt titanium-carbide. "My people need to get off this planet! I cannot do that and fight Blizzard at the same time. The two of you however can go force them all to leave."

"Hmph, and what makes you think that any of you are getting off this planet alive?" Blizzard asked mockingly, "I'm not done with the lot of you yet."

Ichigo answered Blizzard with a Drill Beam to the forehead. The beam did not cut through his skull as designed but it did knock him back and cut a wedge out of his forehead armor. Purple-red blood oozed out of the gash.

"Roshi do not argue with me now, go. You can do more there than I can. Blizzard is nothing, I can stop him and get off with plenty of time. Go save my people!"

Roshi had never seen Ichigo truly plead for anything before. He didn't know what to do. He had promised her that he would do everything he could to save her people. He had also promised himself and Goku that he wouldn't let her sacrifice herself. "Ichigo..."

Roshi was cut off, as if Blizzard himself were controlling the weather the storm suddenly seemed to abate for a few moments. "Nothing? Nothing? You stupid monkeys don't know anything! This battle is far from over!" Blizzard shouted as he reached out to grab both Chill and Ice around their necks. A bright red aura seemed to grow around the three of them for a moment before it slowly flowed so that it was completely around only Blizzard.

There was a bright flash and then Blizzard started to grunt and howl as his natural armor bulged and cracked.

"He's transforming again!" Roshi shouted in horror.

"Go! I can handle this!" Ichigo yelled at the two of them before she threw a Star Ripper into the conflagration of energy around Blizzard. The scintillating orb of ki shattered against a wave of ki long before it even got anywhere near Blizzard.

"No you can't. I'm not going to let you just throw your life away." Roshi yelled back at Ichigo before he turned to Boxee, "Boxee get the hell out of here. Get to a radio and warn my dad. You have to get them out of here..." Roshi paused as he remembered the map of the system Slip had shown them back in the Phoenix. Roshi silently thanked his memory and then calculated the distance to the sun and the time since the attack was launched. "Three minutes! You have to get everyone off in three minutes! The shockwave will be here in eight. If you aren't lifting off in three you won't clear the shockwave in time! No go! I have a capsule ship, don't wait for us."

Boxee's jaw dropped. "Three minutes! Fucking hell!"

"Boxee MOVE YOUR ASS!" Roshi yelled before he flew up to where Ichigo had just finished sending a spinning Kamehameha into the bubble of energy around Blizzard. 

"Damn it! Attacking him while he's transforming is useless! There is too much energy for the attack to get through!" She vented in frustration before turning to Roshi. "You should not be here. This is not your fight."

"Nor is it your place to just give up and die."

Ichigo glared at him. "That is from both your culture and mine, the captain goes down with the ship."

Roshi watched as Blizzard's body convulsed within the shell of energy. "Maybe he'll kill himself trying to transform and we won't have to worry about him." He turned to Ichigo, "Ichigo... your people need you. This isn't your fault. You can't do this."

"It is my life you hypocritical ass. This is not your fault either so why are you still here?"

Roshi glared at her. "I should have known better. I should have never fallen for that trick. It is my fault."

Ichigo looked away. "Oh no, you do not get to claim blame! I blew up your moon. You blew up my sun. As far as I am concerned in eight minutes one way or another we will be even."

"Good, but I'm staying."

Ichigo turned and gave a half smile, "Good, as I cannot go this alone."

Roshi smiled and then silently set his new watch's alarm for three minutes.

* * *

Kit glanced down at the watch face timer on the wrist of her gravsuit. Thirty seconds of power were left. "Can we possibly go now? The ship is right there and there is no one else here." She said impatiently to Raimu, who was for his part looking at the city square as though it were a war zone. Technically, it probably was, but Kit didn't have time for him to be cautious right at the moment.

"Not just yet. There is someone coming." Raimu said as he waved his horribly inaccurate handheld scanner through the air again.

"I KNOW there is someone coming. I told you already that it is one of my friends!" Kit exasperated as she looked at the scouter readout on the other wrist, which indicated Slip would be there in exactly twenty seconds. 

"Gah! I literally do not have time for this!" Kit said as she twisted past Raimu and started to run for the ship.

Raimu made no attempt to follow her and she was just about in the ship when Slip suddenly landed directly in front of her on the ramp.

"Hey, need some help?"

Kit suddenly felt nauseous as the gravsuit rapidly began to shut down. "Get outta my way!" She screamed as she barreled directly into Slip.

Kit had run into brick walls with more give than Slip seemed to have at the moment. She bounced back with the wind knocked out of her and her fight with gravity hopelessly under-matched within the failing suit.

"Oh! The battery is dead!" Slip gasped. Kit felt an instant of vertigo as she was out on the street and then moments later found herself in the ship being set down by Slip. "You know you sure did cut that a bit close!" Slip scolded her.

"You don't say! I had NO idea." Kit rolled her eyes and flopped her head back against a bulkhead. "Look, there are three Saiyans who are about as paranoid as the word can define. Could you go get them and hold them still so I can beat on them with a lead pipe?"

Slip laughed and shook her head. "Lead? That's way too soft. I'll get you a polycomposite bat. That might at least do something before it breaks over their heads!"

"HEY IS SLIP THERE? OR KIT? ANYONE!?!?! THE COMPUTER SAYS YOU GUYS ARE THERE!! YOU HAVE TO GET OFF THE PLANET. TELL EVERYONE TO GET OFF THE PLANET! THE SUN IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE!" A dual voice suddenly shouted over the ship's intercom.

Kit's ears perked up. "Is that Tee and Boxers?"

Slip looked surprised. "Yeah, just a second." She said as she walked to the computer. "Boxee? Ah what's up? Did you just say the sun was about to explode?"

"SLIP!! YES!! WE'VE GOT ABOUT..."

"STOP SHOUTING!!!" Slip screamed into the microphone. Take a breath and just tell me what's happening." 

"RO... Roshi and Ichigo are still fighting but the sun is about to explode and we have about two and a half minutes to get everyone off or their all going to burn in the shockwave! I can't reach Goshu or anyone else and I need to tell them. We need to go!"

Kit didn't think she had ever seen Slip so white before. That was about the last thought before she fainted dead away.

* * *

Wump!

Slip turned to see Kit laying on her back with her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she breathed in abnormally slowly. "KIT! This is no time for a nap wake your ass back up!" She yelled in frustration before she turned back to the computer. "Boxee just get the people up there off. I'll warn Goshu and the rest. See you on the Phoenix."

Slip waited about half a second for a reply and when none came she spun around on her heal and bent to slap Kit in the cheek. "Wake up!"

Kit startled awake and looked up at her through dreary eyes. "Ah AH AH!"

"This isn't time to panic girl. Get this bucket of bolts powered up and get out back to the Phoenix."

Kit blinked and sat up. She shook her head in a way very reminiscent of a dog that had just woken up and then looked out the door. "What about them?" She asked as she pointed to a building across the square from where the ship was.

"I'll get them."

Slip darted out of the ship and went directly to where the three Saiyans were cautiously watching from inside one of the department stores.

"Hi, I'm Slip I don't have time to talk as the sun is about to explode so would you please get on that ship so Kit can take you to safety?"

"You're not a Saiyan. The furry one said that her friends were Saiyans."

Slip rolled her turquoise eyes. "Nope, can't do things the easy way can we? I assure you that I am in fact a Saiyan and that the next time one of you asks or states another presumptuous racial quip about my hair I'm going to rip heads off of necks and use them for kick-balls." She said with little trace of humor. "Now get on that ship!"

The woman started to back away.

'Why can't anything ever be easy?' Slip asked herself as she jumped forward to catch the woman.

* * *

Roshi could sense the wave of panic flair up first in the ruins of the Capitol Hayashi, and then a few moments later far to the south. The news was out and people were reacting. 

Roshi bounced another Kamehameha off the storm of ki that was raging about Blizzard. "You're sucking on your lip again."

Ichigo's hand when to her mouth and she gave a half surprised gasp. "And you're fidgeting with your fingers again. I'm not the only one who has a nervous habit."

Roshi looked down and forced his fingers to stop moving about. "So I was."

"Roshi..." Ichigo's voice cracked. "I might not get a chance to say this so I think I need to now.

Roshi turned to face her fully. "Yes?"

She blinked and looked into his eyes for a moment before she looked away and seemed to blush. With the cold and the wind, her face was already flushed and red, so it was hard to tell.

"Roshi... I..."

Ichigo flipped back and spun away as a black Kienzian almost took her head off.

Roshi spun and threw a few Energy Dan pulses at the disk and it shattered.

"Oh so you are actually going to fight?" Roshi asked as he spun to watch Blizzard drop Ice directly on top of where he had already dropped Chill.

Both of the weaker Changelings were unconscious and close to death. Their bodies looked anemic and withered. On the contrary, Blizzard radiated power. Blizzard was now a polished black. The only breaks in color were his eyes, horns, and claws, which were the red of fresh blood. He easily stood over two meters tall and was lean and muscular. 

His entire body had the look of a savage weapon to it. Long hooked scalpel-looking claws tipped his fingers and toes. Spikes grew off of his knuckles and arms so that even with his fist closed he could easily lacerate someone. His face had flattened and lengthened to look more serpentine. Large jagged serrated teeth lined his mouth. Though the most impressive change was his horns. Starting about where his eyebrows should be, his face and head merged into two large red horns that curved back and to the side before tapering to a long point.

"I'm not going to waste a fifth transformation if I did not plan on using it to kill you." Blizzard replied in a suddenly deep timbre. 

"Then you wasted your time!" Ichigo literally snarled as she dropped down from above to slam both feet into Blizzard's nose.

Blizzard's head rocked back, but only Ichigo's reflexes and dexterity saved her as she back-flipped away from the sweep of Blizzard's claws as he reacted to her.

"You are nothing girl." Blizzard said as he tossed a black blast in her direction. He then turned his attention to Roshi. "You however, will prove to be entertaining. Show me your true power Saiyan." 

Ichigo dodged the sickly evil looking attack and used a Zanzouken to avoid it while instantaneously appearing next to Roshi while laughing. "Call me what you want. You cannot hurt me with words." She then turned to Roshi. "I was wrong. I can only distract him, not finish him. Good thing you are here huh?"

Roshi just nodded before Ichigo continued. "Under normal circumstances I would say stall for time. He used a Chartashan technique to gain energy. The transfer of ki will not last long."

Roshi glanced at his watch. "I don't think we can stall for time."

"Unfortunately no."

Blizzard laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hear you expect my power to drop soon? I used the pathetic Chartashan ability to get the power needed to transform. Now that I am in this stage nothing can stop me!"

Roshi closed his eyes and emptied his mind to clear his thoughts and then caught Blizzard's leg as it descended at him. Roshi slowly opened his eyes again to look at Blizzard before he caught Blizzard's left leg in his other hand as Blizzard tried to rake him with that leg as well.

"Allow me to introduce you to two nothings that are about to kick your ass." He said as he slammed Blizzard's ankles together with enough force to crush the armor plates on the insides of both of the Changelings legs. "I'm Son Roshi."

Blizzard screamed in pain and tried to launch a ki blast at Roshi. Which Roshi, realizing he couldn't overpower Blizzard enough to swing him around while getting himself out of the way, just let go and ducked away. The ki blast shot off over Roshi's head just as Ichigo slammed her knee into the small of Blizzard's back directly above where his tail was connected. "And you fear me so I need no introduction."

Blizzard yowled in pain as he spun away from Ichigo to flex his feet and toes before spinning down to attack Roshi again. "I fear no one! You will die here fools!"

Roshi launched a Kamehameha, which Blizzard deflected moments before he drove his spiked fist into Roshi's chest.

The impact cracked one of Roshi's ribs and sent him careening down to land on the back of his head next to where Ice and Chill had fallen.

Roshi rolled to stand up and gasped as the broken rib popped against itself and sent spikes of pain though his chest. He coughed and spat blood from his bitten lip. "Yeah, and what about these two? You going to leave them to die here as well?"

"They were next to useless to me. They don't deserve to live. I will find better after you are dead!"

Roshi picked at the gash in his gi and smeared dark stain of the blood from the three bleeding puncture wounds down the navy over-shirt.

"I've seen heartless before, but your actions are soulless." Roshi yelled back as loudly as he could though the pain as his yellow aura built in power and intensity. 'Careful now, if I bulk up too much I won't be able to even hit the bastard.'

* * *

Blizzard had passed from the realm of effable far into the unexplainable realm of the ineffable.  Words could not express the ire within him as he glared at the two yellow haired monkeys.

Blizzard relished the sight of the fright found within both of the monkey's eyes, yet at the same time their continued presses infuriated him.  He was the lord of all things.  No one and nothing dared challenge him.  Yet these pathetic insignificant peons had done just that.  

They were going to die.

Blizzard had assured that with his PlanetBuster.  He had made it just large enough to cause a solar flare, which would turn the miserable frozen waste of a planet he was now fighting on into molten slag.

Then that idiot Saiyan Monkey had hit the PlanetBuster with his ridiculously powerful beam attack.  Not even he knew if he could live though the resulting stellar explosion that was now underway.

'Stupid idiot' Blizzard cursed as he dodged one of those inexcusably powerful blue beam attacks.  "Is that the best you can do Monkey?"  He called out mockingly.

Even more infuriating was the Princess.  The stunted runty little disgustingly slight and unsubstantially small female bitch was still too fast for him to effectively attack.  The only decent thing about the whole situation was that her disgustingly small body also did not have enough mass or strength to effectively harm him.  

Or so he thought as one of her spiny Star Ripper blasts cut into his back and caught him by surprise.  "You'll pay for that bitch!"

The stupid bitch spun to a stop in mid-air before raising her right arm and flashing him the universal symbol of the bird complete with a glowing flare of yellow ki flame.  "The only one who will be paying here is you Blizzard.  And you will pay with interest."

Blizzard was about to respond, when he was suddenly kicked in the face by the brute of a Saiyan male.

"Cheap shot."

The bastard actually smiled.  "No, this is a cheap shot… Thunderflash!!"

The last thing Blizzard saw before the world went white and his ears practically burst with ringing was the Saiyan's knee jetting for his jaw.

* * *

"Stop your stalling and get moving!" Goshu yelled at a group of now awakened yet lingering Saiyans. The fact that his anger shook the ground and cracked the concrete wall near him added to the fact that, with the exception of the lacking tail, he was the very embodiment of what they had expected a Super Saiyan to look like.  Which helped Goshu's persuasion abilities immensely.

"No"

Goshu looked up and was surprised to see a group of about forty-five people standing with their arms crossed defensively. "We ain't leaving." Spoke an elderly looking man.

'So much for Ichigo's proper grammar.' Goshu laughed at the humor of the moment despite everything that was going on. "I do not think you understand. Your sun has exploded. We have about a minute left to get off this dust ball before it becomes molten plasma. You are going to leave."

"No sir. I don't think you get it. You might be a legend but you ain't no Saiyan I know. We don't surrender. This is my home, and I ain't leavin'."

Goshu looked at the rest of them. "You all feel the same way?"

"Yes." Most of them chimed while the rest nodded in agreement.

"Wait, where are you going? The ships are that way!" Max yelled as she ran back into the Quonset and looked on as her group joined those standing there.

"We choose to stay as well." A woman spoke up while holding onto the shoulders of her daughter.

Goshu rubbed his temples and then pointed at the girl. "What about her. She has her entire life before her. You would rather die and let her die than live that life?"

"This is our home. It is where we belong."

Goshu punched a hole in the wall. "Then make a new home. You say Saiyans never surrender. Well this certainly looks like you are surrendering here. Life is the battle. Life! Not some set of ideals or property or land or even a whole planet is worth the hope and challenge of living a life. How is there ever victory in your own deaths?"

"Don't judge us... coward." The old man said as he walked past and then flew away.

Nail looked to Goshu, "Should I go get him?"

"No, he made his own choice to die. We can't force them to live." Goshu looked over the rest of them. "You all think the same way? All of you choose to stay and die?"

The crowd of nearly one hundred shook their heads and murmured agreement.

"Fine, then lets go. There is nothing else we can do here."

Max started to turn away and then turned back to the woman. "Please ma'am, come with us. Not for your sake, but for hers."

She shook her head. "My mate died trying to stop the Changelings. To run now... no."

"Your husband died trying to save your lives. To not come now would make his sacrifice in vain."

The woman slapped Max full across the face. "How dare you."

"Mostly because I almost died for the same reasons your husband did. I also dare because this isn't my home and I did everything I could to save it. But basically I do because you are a mother and to me your actions are the height of selfishness."

"Max, we have to go." Slip yelled from where she was getting into one of the ships.

"Then take her. My life is here."

"And leave her an orphan?"

The mother looked down at her daughter and the girl wiped her eyes. "Please mommy I don' wanna die."

The woman sighed. "Do not want to." She then looked up at Max. "Fine, we're coming."

* * *

Kit led her former captures though the airlock and stopped dead. Chaos ruled on the Phoenix. Children were bawling as many of the adults from the southern region seemed to be rushing about to find lost family members or anyone else they knew from the survivors from Hayashi.

"Who are you?" A short haired girl of about Kit's age suddenly asked from where she was trying to get a small girl to stop wailing.

"Someone who needs earmuffs very badly." Kit replied as she blinked some tears away and silently prayed to the fates that she wouldn't go deaf before they got back to Earth. "I'm Kit. Who is in charge here?"

The girl shrugged. "Right now? No one is really in charge. I am Sakura by the way. I take it you are here with Ichigo?"

"Ah yeah, but she's still down fighting with Roshi."

Sakura smirked in a suggestive manner. "He's the Super Saiyan? He's hot."

"He's taken" Kit replied humorlessly. "Look I hate to break this up but we really need to get people into the cabins. There are about eighty or so more ships that need to unload and not nearly enough time to unload them if there are all these people standing around on the decks."

"Right, where do you want to put them?"

"The main galley is two decks above us. Take people there for some food and then from there find them cabins. I guess we can carry about twenty thousand people on board with the new systems without there being problems, and unfortunately there are less than expected."

"Right, where are the stairs?"

Kit blinked a few times. "Ah this way."

"Ok," Sakura said as she picked up two of the children. "Everyone follow us!" She turned back to Kit, "So, what about the one with the limp blonde hair? He taken too?"

'Great, a Saiyan version of Niko, just what Earth needs.'  Kit thought to herself as she rolled her eyes and lead them toward the galley.

* * *

Ichigo gasped as Blizzard slashed Roshi across the thigh and tore into his skin over his right quadriceps while just missing the main artery.

"How much more of this can you take Saiyan? You're blood cannot flow forever."

Roshi used his Jade Talon attack to slash back at Blizzard shredding more of his armor over his chest before he drove the middle of the three brilliant green energy blades directly through Blizzard's left shoulder.

"More than you can take."

Blizzard's right-cross caught Roshi in the face and sent him reeling.

'Damn it! I feel so useless!' Ichigo screamed to herself as she threw several Star Rippers at Blizzard.

Blizzard saw them coming and attempted to knock Roshi into one of them, but Roshi nimbly spun out of the way as the two scintillating attacks sped off harmlessly.

"You're going to have to do better than..."

Blizzard's tirade was cut off when Ichigo shoved a ki charged foot into his mouth and broke off several of his teeth.

"Aaaahhh!" Ichigo winced as she bent down to pull several of the sharp teeth out of the sole of her boot and bottom of her foot.

Blizzard spit purple-pink blood and a few tooth fragments before he focused on Ichigo. "Annoyin' pess! Noh yo die!" He spat though his inflamed lips as his entire right arm was suddenly surrounded in red-black energy.

Roshi landed on top of Blizzard's horns wrenching the Changeling's head back and flipping him over. "Forget about someone?"

"Rawwww!!! Carrion Beam!!" Blizzard shouted as he redirected his attack at Roshi.

The red-black beam swelled so that it was larger around than Blizzard was tall and shot at Roshi with incredible speed.

"Roshi!"

The beam slammed into Roshi and swelled as it engulfed him.

"HA!!!!" Roshi screamed as a blue orb suddenly burst from within the red-black beam. Roshi slowly pushed Blizzard's attack back with his Kamehameha.

"Plasma Beam!" Ichigo yelled from Blizzard's left. Her brilliant pink-red beam washed over Blizzard slamming into his injured shoulder and forcing him back. The Kamehameha washed past Blizzard, but even so it freed Roshi to launch to Masenkoes, which did slam into Blizzard and knocked him back slightly.

"Pathetic! It takes two of you and you still are not as powerful!" Blizzard mocked as he dove at Roshi again.

Roshi knocked the first punch away, but was caught by surprise as Blizzard's tail snaked around and wrapped around Roshi's neck.

"Struggle monkey. I want to see you struggle before your head pops off like a cork and your blood gushes like freed wine!"

Roshi dug his hands into Blizzard's tail and was slowly starting to work his way free.

Meanwhile Blizzard's hands were free, so he started to grind his knuckles very slowly into Roshi's pecks.

BEEP beep BEEP beep!

"What's this Monkey?" Blizzard asked as he ripped the watch off of Roshi's wrist. "Oh, the watch says your time is up. I think the watch is smarter than you are!"

"Iyyyeee!!!" Ichigo screamed as she shot down and drove two drill beams directly through Blizzard's tail.

In his surprise, Blizzard let up on Roshi's head.  Gasping for air, Roshi pulled himself free and kicked Blizzard in the face again, this time managing to catch the Changelings right eye.

Blizzard howled in pain and clutched his eye for a moment.

"Roshi, you have to go."

"No. This isn't over and I'm not leaving until it is."

"But your watch! You're out of time! I don't want you to die again. Not for me. Please! Leave!"

Roshi spun and looked deep into her eyes. The expression was grim and hard. "I made a promise. I'm not leaving till it's done. Besides I gave myself some leeway. We have some time before the point of no escape."  Roshi turned back to Blizzard.  "That and the fact that that's the second watch I've lost to a Changeling and it pisses me off."

"I will not be so easy to kill Saiyan!"  Blizzard screamed moments before launching another attack at Roshi.

Roshi spun away to block the black Masenko-like attack before he closed in to physical combat.

Ichigo blinked as tears came to her eyes. In her mind's eye she remembered... _"Roshi, remember your promise. You can't die down there. You're coming back. Mariah's waiting." Kit yelled as Roshi walked through the docking port to get into Snow's ship._

_Roshi turned around. "I know Kit. I know. I remember the promise."_

The tears that didn't evaporate in her aura froze long before they hit the ground as Ichigo blinked her eyes clear.  Recollections of conversations with Kit and Slip, as well as those she had had with Roshi swam before her vision.

Inside her heart of hearts a flame was snuffed, hope died, and a vision for the future shattered and vanished into bitter ash.

'He loves that human girl. Even if we all make it to Earth his future does not include me.'

Ichigo watched as Blizzard caught and slashed into Roshi's left arm. Roshi's gi was shredded and cuts coated his body. Blood seeped and froze coating his gi in a red-pink ice. No matter how much her mind wanted to reject the truth it could not. Roshi was losing.

Ichigo wiped her eyes and then looked down at her the tears that were now evaporating off of her fingers.  'I used to be so proud of my ability not to cry.'

More tears sprang to her eyes as Roshi screamed in pain as Blizzard's tail lashed out and slashed him across the stomach.

'I used to be so proud.  I was so very proud.  Proud of how little I needed people.  Proud of how no one could touch my heart.  I was such a fool.'  Ichigo thought as she looked in at herself and remembered.  "Roshi you taught me how to trust."  A gust of wind and snow blocked her view of the fight.  "You taught me what it means to open up and live.  You showed me joy.  Joy that I have not known since my mother's death." 

"If I do nothing we will both die." Ichigo whispered to herself as she looked over the windswept snow coated ground above, which they now fought. Slowly a plan formed in her mind.  She shivered in the wind as she realized what it would mean.

"Roshi, I'm so sorry."  Ichigo whispered as her breath caught in her thought.  'I was such a fool.  You saved me.  You did more then save me.  You gave me something worth living for.  You showed me how to believe in heroes.  You showed me how to be proud of who I am, not what I am.'  Ichigo blinked and began to focus her mind.  "And in doing those things, you gave me something that is truly worth dying for.'

Yellow energy began to build and pulse around her as she focused everything she had into herself and her reservoirs of ki. 'I do not want to die.'  She thought as she looked back at the fight.  'But to do nothing would be something worse than death.  You saved me Roshi.  You saved me and you saved my people, so now I can save you.  The Universe needs you Roshi.  Your life alone makes it better.  Your life alone is worth this, for I love you.  I love you because you make everything better, with your dorky smile and your happy confidence.  You bring out the best in everyone.'

"I love you Roshi. I'm sorry it had to end this way.  I'm sorry I never got to tell you I loved you.  I'm sorry that I never apologized or even truly thanked you for everything you did." Ichigo sobbed before she wiped her tears away and started to concentrate.  'I'm sorry that this is the only way.  But I cannot let you die here.'

Ichigo focused her mind on her task and closed her eyes.  The last tears were pushed out and burned away before they even reached halfway down her cheeks as her ki suddenly turned a blueish purple and seemed to collapse into her.  

"I love you."

* * *

Roshi gasped as Blizzard tore into his left arm. 'Not this way. I cannot be beaten now. I made a promise and I intend to keep it.' Roshi scolded himself as he thought of the promise he had made to Goku and himself. 'If only I had a little more power. If only I had a little more time.'

"You're only delaying the inevitable monkey. Even if you beat me now you will die in the flames of the sun."

"Not going to die." He smiled as Ichigo began to focus her energy. 'Not with you continuing to forget you have two opponents.' He smirked to himself.

"If you are so sure of that, block this Blizzard! Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HA!!!!"

Roshi almost laughed as Blizzard met his challenge with his Carrion Beam. The red-black beam pushed his Kamehameha back, but did not overwhelm it.

'Common Ichigo!' Roshi thought as he shifted some of his senses over to her.

Something wasn't right. 'What the heck is she...' Roshi's Kamehameha almost died. "ICHIGO NO! Don't do it! That will kill you!!" He screamed just as Ichigo threw everything she had into her renamed Stopper Beam. She now called it a Disruptor. Mostly because of how it had disrupted her nearly as much as those it hit.

The Disruptor was an acrid purple color as it slowly plowed through the air in a way that looked as if it were being pulled rather than pushed towards its target.

It slammed into Blizzard and an inky purple sphere formed. The Carrion beam died almost instantly, as Roshi felt Blizzard seemingly instantaneously revert back to his first form.

Roshi's Kamehameha washed over Blizzard forcing him back.

"AAAAAiiiieeee...ee...e!" Blizzard screamed as he slowly then rapidly disintegrated. 

Roshi cut the Kamehameha off when he was certain all that remained of Blizzard was ash.

"Ichigo!" He screamed as he spun to fly towards her.

Ichigo hung in the air with purple energy crackling around her. Her chopped hair flickered black once and then stayed black as she began to tumble toward the ground.

Roshi dove to try to catch her, but she hit the ground and bounced once before he got to her. He scooped her up into his arms and looked into her face. Her eyes were rolled back and dilated.

"Oh Kami no!  Ichigo! Wake up! Please wake up!" He said as he slapped her cheeks and then felt her neck for a pulse.

"No pulse! Oh come on you can't die now. Not this way!" He screamed at her as he put her down in the snow and slammed his right fist into her sternum. "Damn it! DAMN IT!  You can't die on me now Ichigo!"

'CPR!!! There's still a chance!'  His mind screamed at him while his body seemed sluggish and stupid.

Time slowed as Roshi fumbled to act.  Though he knew how to perform CPR he had never done it, and did not know how hard to push when he did the chest compressions, or how hard to breathe for that part.  He knew he had to do something and do it fast or Ichigo really would die, but he was almost frozen in fear as to how to do any of it.  He did not want to hurt her worse.

Finally, he carefully did the chest compressions and then bent down to give her mouth-to-mouth. Here he paused again. Roshi had never kissed anyone on the lips. 'She's going to kill me when she wakes up…  Oh what the hell am I thinking if I don't she's never going to wake up!'

Putting his qualms aside, He quickly put that out of his mind and pinched her nose shut while trying to breath in for her. Her lips were cold... cold and dead.

"Damn it Ichigo why?  Why did you have to do this?  Of all the things you could have done why that attack?  Why now?"  He screamed at her as he tried the chest compressions again.

'Still no pulse!  This wind and snow, she's starting to get cold.'  Roshi was starting to panic.

"Not this way! Not now!!" He screamed again before he charged his hands with electricity and tried to shock her heart into beating.

It didn't work.

"No... Not this way.  Damn it all!  How can you die now?  Why, after everything else?  Why now?"

Roshi scooped her into his lap and lowered his head so that his forehead rested on hers. Then as the storm blew on and the clouds slowly picked up a red tinge as the reds, oranges, and yellows of Saiya's last sunset grew near, Roshi wept openly.

* * *

Sorry for the long delay.

Please Review.


	57. The Return

Chapter 57

The Return

Day One in the Month of Strength 18:35 (July 2  1:35 AM)

Roshi was shaking.  The tumult maelstrom of bedlamic emotion raging about within him found no outlet as he found himself racked with gasping sobs.  Emotion played upon emotion as the gratification and joy of victory slammed head on into the pain of loss and the desperation and rampant fury at the very injustice of the whole situation.

He cradled Ichigo tighter within his arms and forced his tears to stop.  "Get a hold of yourself."  He spoke as he tried to focus on the task at hand.  

Roshi pulled his head back and wiped his eyes to look at the sky.  "This isn't over!  Damn it this isn't the end.  This is not how things are supposed to be!"  He screamed at the ever-reddening clouds.

He moved Ichigo off of his lap and set her back on the ground.  "You're not dead yet!  I don't care!  You're not going to die here!"  He yelled at her before he jolted her with electricity again.

It didn't work

"Breathe damn you!"  Roshi pleaded with her as he started to perform CPR again.

Ice had slowly started to form on Ichigo's lips and cheeks.  Protected from the brunt of the storm by his ever-present aura, Roshi had not thought about how very cold it was until he started the mouth-to-mouth the second time.  'Fucking hell, her body is cooling too rapidly.  If she doesn't start breathing again soon I'll lose her.'

Roshi stood up and extended his aura in a burst of warm energy, "fucking forsaken snow!  Why the hell does it have to be the middle of the fucking winter here!?!"  He shouted at the sky.

The boiling red sky.

'Oh shit'

* * *

"What the hell do you mean by that?  We cannot leave without Ichigo!"  Momo half yelled half gasped from the far side of the bridge's briefing room.

Slip turned away from the computer and half glared at the woman.  "Yes," she emphasized, "we can, and we must.  If we don't leave NOW we WON'T be leaving.  While the Phoenix is one of the fastest ships Capsule Corp has ever built, all those smaller ships waiting to dock are not.  Since we have to play Shepard to the flock, we need to go.  If we don't leave now, we'll all die."

Momo closed her eyes and breathed in deeply though her nose.  "I was referring to the comment about my niece being dead and that this Roshi person was trying to revive her on the planet."

Goshu walked onto the bridge in time to catch the last of Momo's comments.  "Does Roshi have an ear piece?  I think he may need reminding that he is still in more danger than the rest of us."  

As both Goshu and Boxee were still Super Saiyans, their presence was known, but unlike Boxee, Goshu carried an air of authority and poise that could not be ignored.  Everyone in the room turned to look at him when he entered.

Boxee nodded.  "No, I don't think so.  But, he told us to get you guys off the planet while he and Ichigo stayed to fight Blizzard.  Anyway, he has a ship.  Roshi's not dumb enough to forget things like a star blowing up.  He'll be getting off."

"Is Roshi the really buff Super Saiyan?  I thought he died."  Sakura chimed in from where she was standing by Kit.

"That IS what Slip told me."  Kit added while looking perturbed by the whole situation.

"He did."  Slip replied over her shoulder as she turned back to the computer.  "I'm moving us and the fleet.  By these calculations, Roshi has about thirty seconds to launch or he won't be able to break orbit before the shock wave hits.  Either way we need to be further away."

"Do what you need to, but I need to understand something.  Was this Roshi you are talking about the only Super Saiyan at the start of this battle?  The very same one that Sakura here saw with my niece?"

Boxee suddenly split in two, and Boxers and Tee both blinked a few times to reorient themselves.  "Woah, that's a rush."  Tee replied as he leaned against the wall.  "I don't think we should've been Super when that wore off."

"You're telling me."  Boxers replied as he belatedly realized that someone was holding him up.  "Oh, hi there."  He said to Sakura as he slowly turned around.

Sakura smiled.  "Hello yourself.  Quite the trick you have there."

"Oh get a room!"  Kit replied before sticking out her tongue at the two of them and earning herself some choice glares among the majority of laughter.  "Oh and since no one else has answered you, yes, Roshi was the only Super Saiyan when we got to Saiya.  I don't know if he met Sakura but I would guess so."  She looked at Momo before finishing her statement.  "Why?"

"Then how is he alive?" 

Goshu smiled.  "Roshi learns at an incredible rate.  I would fathom a guess that he did not in fact die, but only found a way to hide his ki from us.  We only think he died because we can sense power-levels and none of us could sense him for a while."  He paused and shook his head.  "Though to be honest.  I still think he died.  As for how he came back.  It may have something to do with Buu," Goshu held up his hands to forestall any questions.  "An ally of ours."

"No, if this Roshi is the person you say he is, then he died.  I saw him die."

"The battle was moving away from the city.  How did you manage to see that?"  Boxers asked looking skeptical.

"He saved Ichigo and I.  I went to watch and got in the way.  He blocked an attack that would have killed both of us and paid for it with his life.  There was nothing but a few strips of cloth from his outfit left."

Goshu face faulted.  "Roshi blew up?"

"Does it matter?  He came back.  Not even death can stop him."

Slip turned and looked at Tee as though he were the biggest fool ever.  "Yeah, but not having a ship might.  If he blew up and his gi was shredded then he isn't fighting in his gi so he doesn't HAVE his ship.  I mean, there are Blizzard and Snow's ships, but Roshi probably doesn't know where Blizzard's ship is, and we made sure Snow's was totally shut down when it landed so Blizzard couldn't use it to escape."

"oh"

Kit made an odd snort like noise.  "No it doesn't.  In my experience Roshi is more akin to an act of nature than a person.  He made a promise to me.  Which was altered but not broken.  Roshi came back.  He's not going to break his promise now.  He'll make it, just you watch, he'll make it."

* * *

"Ichigo please breathe.  Please come back to me.  Please... please don't let everything end like this."  Roshi pleaded with her one last time before trying to jolt her back to life.

It did not work.  Roshi looked at the sky and wished he still had his watch.  "Damn it, how much time?"  He asked himself as he looked down at Ichigo again.  

"Not enough."  He said with the sadness of finality as he reached over to close her eyes.  "I'm sorry Ichigo.  I..."  Roshi's voice broke and he found he could not say anymore.

'I'm out of time.'  He thought as he bent down to scoop her up and then took off and flew as fast as he could back towards where they had landed Snow's ship.  At first he was amazed at how light she felt, but then he realized just how gaunt she had become.  Super Saiyan had taken a lot out of her, and in the back of Roshi's mind he wondered if the stress of everything might not have compounded what she did to herself with the Disruptor.  If her body itself was too far-gone then nothing he did would bring her back.

'Stop that!  Stop thinking that.  She's going to be ok.  I'm going to save her!'  He screamed in his mind.

While he had been given both a Capsule Ship and an earpiece, he hated the earpiece and didn't think fighting with the Capsule Ship in his pocket was very wise, so he had left both near the gangplank of Snow's ship.

Roshi was furious with himself as he sped towards the ship.  'I can't give up.  I've never given up on anything.  This isn't going to be three first time.  I made a promise to her, and Goku, and myself.   I can't give up.  I have to think, Goku brought me back by giving me his life energy.  I wonder if I could give Ichigo some of the energy Goku gave me and bring her back?'

"It's worth a shot."  He announced to himself.  'Now how the heck do I do it?'

"Damn it all Roshi, you have a photographic memory.  THINK!!  What the hell did it feel like when that happened?"  Roshi spoke aloud to himself trying to jog his memory into forming a clear picture of what had happened to him when Goku brought him back, so that he could use it to revive Ichigo.

He tried focus his mind on the physical sense that he got from the transfer of life energy and then push some energy into Ichigo.  While flying he couldn't focus enough to do what he needed to do.

Roshi landed and skidded to a stop on the ice, almost dropping Ichigo as he nearly lost his fight for footing.  He then quickly set her down and ran to grab the Capsule.

"Thank Dende!"  He sighed with relief when he found the capsule right where he had left it.  He took one last look at the piles of dead and frozen corpses that had so shocked him only a few hours before, hours that felt like and indeed were a lifetime ago, before he scooped Ichigo up again and flew to a location large enough to decapsulate his ship.

Roshi's ship was not the typical bulbous spherical ship like most of the other Capsule Ships were, but rather it looked like some sort of overly large delta winged supersonic aircraft.

"Computer, Emergency start of the engines, commence now.  Then autopilot take off for extra-orbital travel at best possible speed."

"Working, engine start in ten seconds.  Warning, planetary orbit detected as unstable.  Warning large Ion storm detected.  Warning Class ten Solar Flare detected.  Warning..."

"Override warnings, authorization Roshi, Son ID 707112114B.  Maximum emergency thrust.  Evade and outrun the solar event, best possible speed." 

The deck of the ship lurched beneath him as the ship took to the air.  Outside, Roshi could see the clouds starting to burn away in the rising heat as more and more light energy began to strike the planet.

The ship was rapidly accelerating now and while Roshi could pilot it, he knew he wasn't nearly as capable as the computer, so he turned back to Ichigo.

"How the heck can I save you?"  He asked as he knelt down beside her.  "I wish I had a stasis pod or something in here.  If I don't revive you soon, you'll have brain damage."

Roshi quickly tried several different methods of transferring energy to her.  All he managed to do was give himself a headache as he realized what he was doing was only altering his ki much in the same way Ichigo had done when she had performed her Disruptor beam.

BANG

Roshi slammed his fist into the floor-plates denting them deeply.  "This isn't going to work.  I'm sorry, but I can't save you.  I don't know how.  I...  Dende I'm talking to a corpse."  Roshi mentally kicked himself for calling her a corpse and then just shook his head and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"At least you died for what you believed in.  Like anyone, you had many sides, but you truly were a hero Ichigo.  Rest in peace."  Roshi gently kissed her forehead and then stood up to go to the cockpit so that he could respond if the ship's computer could not handle his instructions.

'Dende she's beautiful.  At least now I hope she's found the peace within her soul she had so desperately been searching for.'  Roshi thought as he looked down at her one last time.  "She looks like she's sleeping, as though she'll simply just wake up and everything will be back to the way it was."  Roshi sniffled and shook his head, "but this isn't a fairy tail like Sleeping Beauty... Sleeping Beauty... I'M A FUCKING IDIOT!"

Roshi quickly thought back to any of the innumerable times he had tuned into Ichigo's ki.  Ki, the energy formed by the links between the mind, the soul, and the body.  The point of the Sleeping Beauty attack was to match someone's ki closely enough to that you could trick the mind into forcing it and the body to fall asleep.

Instinct forces the body to breathe when sleeping.  

Roshi focused and thought of all the time he had spent around her.  He focused on the mental sense that she had given off.  He thought back to the first time he had used the Sleeping Beauty attack on her.  Roshi knew that a simple Sleeping Beauty wouldn't do what he needed to have done, so he also thought about what he had done wrong in his previous attempts to revive her and about what Goku and the Rou Kaioshin had done for him.

He opened his eyes.  Between his cupped hands he now held a pulsating ball of glowing blue ki.  It was the same color as Ichigo's eyes.  'Please Dende work.'

Roshi bent down and carefully placed the globe of energy on her chest, over her heart.  It slowly sank into her and surrounded her with a faint glow of blue and then yellow light as it diffused about her.  

beat...

Her heart beat once.  It was weak and stuttered, but it had beat.

Beat... 

Ichigo gasped for air a few times and then fell into a calm sleeping breathing pattern.

Roshi held his hand to her neck.  As her body warmed, her pulse and heart rate started to return to normal strength.

Roshi almost passed out with relief, but within moments was jumping around the cabin pumping his arms like someone who had just won the lottery.  "YES!  YESYESYES! WHOOO DENDE THANK YOU YES!!  She's going to make it!"

AAAAaaannnnTTT  AAAaaannnnTTT  AAAaaannnnTTT!  Warning klaxons suddenly sounded moments before the entire ship was tossed about like a leaf in the wind.  Roshi banged his head into a bulkhead and saw stars just as the lights in the ship flickered out.

* * *

The surface of any star can be compared to a stormy ocean.  Turbulent waves of plasma commonly churn and erupt into hundreds if not thousands of kilometer long geyser-like plumes of gas and energy known as solar flares.  Even with Roshi's added energy, Blizzard's attack was but a pebble tossed into the sea.  However, much like a pebble disrupts the surface of the sea, the attack disrupted the surface of the sun sending a jet of stellar gas and flame directly for the planet Saiya. 

Everyone on the bridge of the Phoenix watched in mute horror as the blossoming fingers of stellar flame washed across the planet Saiya.  The atmosphere burned off within seconds as fire spread across the world.  The bright plasma flames caressed the planet in molten heat before washing past out into the void of space.

All the while, the gasses that had formerly been part of the sun were now interacting at high speed with the magnetic fields of the planet.  Under normal circumstances this would form small ion storms in the atmosphere known as the aurorae.  However, these were not normal circumstances.  Arcs of lightning like energy played across the sky and the plume of stellar flames.   Boiling waves of flame and energy in shades of reds, blues, and purples expanded around the planet as they interacted with the storms.

It was actually quite beautiful.  

At this point the pebble comparison ends and the butterfly theory took over.  Much like a water-balloon that has been punctured, the solar flare grew in intensity as Saiya's sun lost mass, and thus loss the gravity needed to contain the ever-expanding geyser of flame.  A secondary explosion had sent out an even larger shockwave than the first and that shockwave now raced for the planet.

The beauty of the dancing waves and boils of the storm were washed away in an instant when the main shockwave of gasses hit and the now glowing, burning planet cracked like an egg.  The crust of the planet split and the molten magma and lava of the depths sprayed out in the moments before the planet itself broke apart and was thrown out along the orbital plane as uncountable particles of space dust and burning asteroids.

"Oh...nooo"  Momo gasped.  "It is all gone now.  Everything is gone."

"The secondary shock wave was thrown out of the star at .73 times the speed of light.  It will reach us in two minutes thirty two seconds."  Slip stated from where she sat at one of the navigational computers.  "At our current rate of speed we will clear the main plume of gasses and the primary shockwave's path in two minutes twenty seconds.  We could go faster, but then we would leave the Capsule ships behind."

BeepBEET BeepBEET

"Hey check it out!  The scanners are picking up Ichigo's life signs again!"  Tee yelled as he turned toward the computer screen that had been keeping track of all the life signs on the planet during the battle.

"Oh no," Slip gasped to herself.

"What?"  Goshu asked as he walked up to her.

"Roshi's not going to make it.  He's caught in the leading edge of the flare, in the middle of that ion storm.   His ship isn't accelerating fast enough and the secondary shockwave... will hit Roshi's ship in about fifteen seconds.  That ship can't survive that much of an impact."  Slip finished stating the obvious.

"Zoom in on that ship!"  Goshu directed Boxers, who was now seated by one of the main view screen controls.

"They're caught in the solar winds.  The ionic interference is making it hard to track them."  

"Yeah, the ki scanner lost them too!"  

The view screen focused for a moment showing the delta-winged ship caught in the current of the ionic flames.  Arcs of energy played across it as it struggled to break free of the turbulent storm of flames and energy it had become caught in.  A sudden burst of lightning like energy caught one of the wings of the ship and played across its hull.  The ship rocked and began to spin at an odd angle when that moment of clarity fizzled out as the screen filled with static as the Phoenix's visual sensors overloaded and shut down.

"Get them back!"  Sakura yelled as she grabbed Boxers' shoulders.

"I'm trying!"

Goshu ran up beside Boxers and started to rapidly type in commands to the computer system but none of his efforts seemed to be able to restore the picture.  "The whole grid is shut down to stop itself from burning out."

"I've lost them on the neutrino scanners and bio as well.  There is just too much interference."  Slip said as she swiveled in her chair.  "Can you sense them?"

Goshu scrunched his forehead for a moment before he shook his head sadly.  "No.  I can't sense anything through that; there is just too much energy from the star."

"Wait!"  Slip yelled, "I'm getting an energy build up on the gravimetric sensors!  It's coming from where the computer estimates Roshi's ship should be."

Goshu quickly jumped over the rail and sat down beside Slip.  "Let me see those readings."

* * * 

Roshi's head swam as he ran to the small ship's cockpit in the flickering lights.  "Don't be down, please don't be down."  He begged the ships computer as he jumped into the pilot's seat.

Roshi quickly shut off the alarms and focused on the problem.  His little ship was caught in the middle of what the flickering computer screen reported to be a class-6 ion storm.

Roshi guessed that was bad.

To make matters worse, the ion storm had knocked out the primary thrusters.  The computer also indicated they were now facing perpendicular to the direction of the flow of the gasses erupting from the sun.  Essentially they were caught in an eddy and lacking the power to fight their way free.

Roshi knew that was bad.

To make matters worse, the hull temperature was already reaching critical levels and the computer indicated a level 8 shockwave was approaching at close to the speed of light.

"This is really bad."  Roshi muttered to himself as he wiped the rapidly growing beads of sweat off of his forehead.  "First snow and now fire.  Extremes suck."

Roshi rapidly went about restarting the drive thrusters.  After a few seconds though he gave up.  "This is futile the whole thing's fried."

"Warning, Impact in ten seconds."

Roshi closed his eyes to clear his head and then glanced over his shoulder at Ichigo.  "I'm not going to fail now.  Not after everything else."  He said to himself before he turned back to the computer.

"Computer, what's the state of the jump drive?"

"Hyperdrive engines are fully operational but offline and charging."

"How long till full charge?"

"Five minutes and thirty three seconds."

"Dang...  Does this ship have emergency jump capacitors?"

"Yes"

"Then set course for the wormhole and engage the engines!"

"Cannot comply.  Safety regulations for..."

"Override"

"Authorization not accepted.  Emergency jump can only be used in..."

"THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!"

"Use of the hyperdrive in current environment not advised."

Roshi cursed to himself and then began to type a higher-level access code his father had given him into the computer.  If the computer was not damaged the access code should give him full authority to do just about anything. 

He had about three seconds.

It took two for the Hyperspace field to be created.

"Disengage the safety protocols and jump!"

The ship shuddered and then rocked before it was suddenly plunged into darkness.  Acrid smoke filled burned into Roshi's eyes as energy arced across the console causing it to burst into flames.  

* * *

Goshu swore.  Hearing him swear was enough to cause Slip, Kit, Tee, Boxers, and Nail to come to full attention. 

"Computer scram the main core." 

"What?"  Slip's eyes almost fell out of her head.

"Matter Anti-matter core shutdown in 5..."  The computer reported almost instantly.

Goshu took a glance behind him and then quickly jumped into the seldom-used manual conning chair, disturbing long undisturbed dust.  "Kit find a wall socket and plug that suit back in.  We're in for a bumpy ride.  I'm adjusting course fourteen degrees along the stellar axis and rolling us thirty-nine degrees on our z axis."

Kit stood there blinking for a few seconds before she frantically started looking for a power socket for her gravsuit.  "What's going on?"

"Holy Dende!"  Slip was checking the readings on the screen Goshu had just left and managed to figure out what was going on.  "Roshi jumped while in the middle of that ion storm."

"So?" Tee commented.

"So why can't you use the hyperdrive engines in an atmosphere?"  Slip asked as if that question should mean something to them, before turning back to Goshu.  "Setting the internal gravity to make a sustained 32 g burst at moment of impact.

Boxers father was one of the foremost physicists in the world.  While he might not act it, Boxers did know a thing or two about what Slip was saying.  He moved over to look at a display showing the relation of the Phoenix to the rest of the Capsule Ships.  "They won't be ready to jump for another few seconds and Roshi caused a gravimetric cascade Tee.  Goshu's using the mass of the Phoenix to shield the Capsule ships."

Goshu nodded and then looked up from some calculations he was running on a side panel.  "Exactly.  Even with the internal gravity field, that kind of gravimetric disturbance would be very unkind to the gravity well containment on the MAMA core, and it would likely destroy the smaller ships right out.  Oh, and Slip not a sustained burst, set it to three micro-bursts 32.3, 34.6, and then 28.9"

"But um, isn't the hyperdrive offline if the main core is offline?"

Goshu ignored him and activated the ship-wide intercom.  "All hands, brace for impact!"

While there were actually several ways to propel a ship to speeds faster than that of the speed of light, the hyperdrive jump was one of the most efficient.  When the jump is activated a massive amount of energy rips a whole in the matrix of gravity/space/time and propels the ship into a field of sustained non-space in which it travels.  

The primary problem with the jump system is that if one were to jump while in a high-matter environment, like say an atmosphere of a planet, or a raging solar wind caused ion storm the energy interaction causes the matter to collapse into a micro-singularity, which then collapses and causes a highly intensive gravity burst to be flung out in all directions.  

If this were to happen in an atmosphere the resulting storms would be devastating.  Not to mention the earthquakes, tsunamis and other highly disruptive problems.

In space it just sends a shockwave out at the speed of light that can crack open normal ships like eggs and smear the passengers within into pât'.

Under Goshu's graceful piloting, the Phoenix spun through space to absorb the brunt of the invisible wave of the expanding sphere of compressing gravity.  

By setting the gravity generators that were spread thought the ship to microburst increases in the internal gravity, it not only strengthened the ship against the impact, but also helped to dissipate some of the energy of the shockwave.

Kit gritted her teeth as a visible bubble of coalescing energy played around her when the wave passed though the ship and played across her suit's own micro-gravity field. 

"Channeling excess energy from the generator coils to the Training Room capacitors."  Slip reported as soon as she recovered from the stomach turning conflicting waves of gravity.

"Good, hot starting the MAMA and correcting our course."  Goshu replied.  "We will be out of here with time to spare."

"We're alive?"  Kit asked.  "So it's all done?  Please tell me there won't be any more surprises I'm starting to regret coming along."

"No you don't, when we pick up Roshi you're gunna wanna be here to give him an ear full."  Tee replied.  "I mean, we are going to go pick up Roshi and Ichigo right?  They did make it right?"

* * *

Roshi thanked every Kami in the universe that the fire suppression systems were still working. 

Even so, there was nothing salvageable from the main computer counsel.  Roshi could tell by looking out though the windows that they were no longer anywhere near Saiya.  Just where they were however, he had no clue.

The seemingly growing haze of smoke within the ship was enough to make his eyes water and give him problems breathing.  Roshi tended to avoid places where people smoked, and the acrid burnt electronic smoke now filling the ship was enough to make him almost want to stop breathing.  That was, it would make him want to stop breathing if he could stop coughing, sneezing, and wheezing long enough to actually breathe.

'Life support must be having problems scrubbing the air.  This could be very bad.'  Roshi thought as he tried to get control over his breathing.

After what was probably only a minute or so, but felt like had been several millennia, the air cleared enough to actually see and breathe without too much irritation.  Roshi saw that Ichigo was still sleeping, so he set about looking to see if he could find a way to find out where they were and then get help.

Because they had had no idea how many people they might have had to evacuate, Roshi, Goshu, Nail, and Boxers had each been given so called command ships which could then lead some of the numerous spherical Capsule Ships back to Earth.  The specialized ship Roshi had chosen to take was large enough to evacuate some hundred or so people without need to dock with the Phoenix.  It was actually three decks thick, the topmost only having a fairly large captain's suite, and about one hundred and fifty meters long.  It also had enough computer power to auto pilot five hundred of the standard ships.

Roshi figured that as they still had working gravity, at least one of the various computer systems had to still be working.

"Oh, nothing good can come of this."  Roshi stopped dead as he walked into the foam drenched engine room to find both of the primary power relays off of the main bank of fusion reactors still smoldering while slogging off the covering of fire suppressant foam.  "Well that rules out going anywhere." 

* * *

No one really wanted to be too quick to respond to Tee's question.

"Ah well, it is complicated.  If the ship managed to jump at the front of the cascade or through the cascade, then yes they made it.  If the cascade disrupted the jump, then no."  Goshu finally said.

Goshu waited for that to sink in.  "And given the size of the cascade and the general lack of control Roshi's ship had before the cascade..."

"Oh I can't believe you people.  Roshi is the most stubborn thick skulled person I have ever met and I know for a fact it's a family trait so would you please stop finding reasons to give up on him?"  Kit yelled from where she was unplugging herself from the wall mounted power plug she had found.

"Yeah if anyone could make it though that it would be Roshi.  He's like a freaking cat with nine lives."  Tee added.

"Please stop."  Sakura said quietly from the back of the bridge.  "I do not understand anything of what has just happened but please do not feed us false hope.  Ichigo would not want that, and from the sense of what I get about your Roshi, he would not either.  If they are dead then tell us so that we may mourn their deaths along with all of Saiya."

The stark reminder that many millions of people had died because of Blizzard and an entire planet lost dampened the mood in an instant.

"Hmmph, words have no power in moments such as these." Nail stated flatly.  Several of the people in the bridge jumped when he spoke, having forgotten that the often-silent Namekian was even on the bridge.

"No, no they do not.  Words only stain the moment with noise."  Momo said flatly.  "Sakura spoke truly.  We all saw their ship tumbling though that storm.  I am no scientist and know little of the physics you speak of, but I know when the odds are staked against me.  Let us mourn our losses in silence."

No one else spoke for several seconds, then a tone sounded across the bridge.  "The Hyperdrive is on-line.  We need to leave."  Slip said almost at a whisper as she brought the view screen to look at the death throws of the Saiyan Sun one last time.  "The star is fully going nova now."

"I know, be strong, Roshi would want it this way."  Goshu said as he walked over to give one of Slip's shoulders a reaffirming squeeze.  He then turned to Momo.  "You are both right, and while news such as this will not go over well I think we need to tell our passengers what is and has been happening."

Momo looked stricken.  "You want me to tell them?"

"You are the only remaining member of the Royal Family."

"But I am not!  I am but only my sister's sister.  I am not even a warrior!"

Goshu shrugged.  "Neither are any of us.  Not on our world at least.  I teach martial combat and am famous for it, but most of the time I am nothing more than a glorified accountant.   Max over there used to own and run a restaurant.  Slip, Tee, and Boxers are still in school and none of them truly trained before your niece showed up."

"You are a book keeper?  I find that impossible to accept.  The seven, er eight of you show up and kill four Changelings and no one knows how many other elite troops...  and despite the loss of my niece and your son and the planet itself, you survived!  No, there is no possible way what you are telling me is true.  As it has to be a lie, why are you even telling me this?"

Almost every single one of the people from Earth in the room rolled their eyes.  

"What was that for?"

"Heh, on the bright side considering everything that has just happened, she's a lot calmer than Ichigo was when she first got to Earth."  Boxers commented.

* * * 

It took Roshi about fifteen seconds to figure out that he did not know nearly enough about repairing computers.  Row after row of memory modules were burned out.  One of the processing cores looked more like the charred remains of a campfire marshmallow than anything electronic.  There where, however, several screens still blinking, and an indication that the backup generators had kicked in supplying power.

The hyperspace communications system was still working too.  Upon finding that information out, Roshi felt an inexplicable degree better.  He quickly punched up the Phoenix's carrier frequency and then sent his SOS.  "Hey, um, this is Roshi, Ichigo and I are kinda in need of someone to come pick us up.  I'm going to leave this channel open so that you can trace it, as I really can't tell you where the heck I am now.  So... ah yeah, could you be so kind as to come get us?" 

The screen indicated that the message was sent, so Roshi sat down on what had once been some type of a power flow regulation device and waited to see if anyone replied.

He did not have to wait long.  "Roshi!  You're alive!!"  Slip yelled over the speakers. 

"Yes, glad to hear you're ok" Roshi replied.

"Do you have any idea how idiotic you are?  I mean really you pull how many close calls and then you go and do something harebrained like forming a micro-wormhole and shoot yourself half way across the Galaxy!"

"um... what!?"

"Ignore her Roshi, you're only four days away.  Though I am going to have to have a discussion about the dangers of causing gravimetric cascades sometime."  Goshu replied calmly.

"Huh?"

"He means you're an idiot and you almost killed us you idiot."  Boxers chimed in.

"Right, so are all of you there to mock me for just about getting burned to a crisp?"

"No, we're going to mock you for having to always do things the hard way, and for being an attention hog, and for scaring us half to death by your antics, oh, and for just having the incorrigible dumb luck that lets you always get away with it."  Kit added.

"Oh, Hi there Kit nice to here you there too.  Really, it is.  I don't know what I did, but if you say so."  Roshi replied.  "So am I really four days away from you guys or what?"

"Yes you are four days away."  Slip replied as though she were insulted by the mere idea that they might have been pulling his leg.

"Um, I might not be the best when it comes to physics but ah if we traveled this far in a few seconds, why will it take you four days to get here?"

Roshi could not help but start laughing as Slip started having a fit on the other end.

"Stop.  I'm teasing.  I guess at the time, when if you recall a large wave of very hot cosmic gas was about to turn my ship and me and Ichigo into more very hot cosmic gas that jumping would cause an overload cascade.  I'm fairly sure the only thing on my mind was getting to safety."

"Yeah, well all things considered, it would have been better had you gotten off the planet within your own time constraints."  Goshu scolded.

Roshi rolled his eyes.  "Well you know, had Blizzard just rolled over and died like he was supposed to that wouldn't have been a problem but as it was..."

"Oh would you just shut up!  We know!"  Slip cut him off.  

"Well excuse me."

"AH hemmm, as much as I find this conversation to be painful and trite, I have to ask how my niece is doing.  Is she there with you now?"  A voice Roshi didn't know asked.

"Um, Ichigo is sleeping off the effects of a near-death experience.  As far as I can tell she's fine, but ah that's really all I know at the moment."

"Oh, well thank you for saving her, and ah..."  Momo trailed off.

"I know.  Don't worry."

* * *

Momo had been about to ask Tee exactly what he meant by that when Roshi's voice had suddenly blurted out over the speakers.  Before she knew what all was happening, they were in route to pick Ichigo and Roshi up.

"It would appear as though I spoke too soon.  I... I am at a loss as to how to explain my thoughts right now.  These last few weeks have been surreal, yet painfully irrefutable.  I..."

Goshu nodded.  "I cannot say that I understand, because I don't, but it seems now your message to your fellow refugees will have a more positive note to it."

Momo shuddered and then nodded.  "Yes, and when we get my niece back I am going to have to discuss just how little I enjoy having to give her speeches."

Tee laughed.  "Hey now there's a concept.  Differing to the younger generation."  He looked at Goshu.  "Any chance you'll... Um I'm going to take that as a no."

Goshu shrugged.  "Don't look at me.  Roshi and Slip have been doing their own thing for years now.  When you've earned it, the responsibility will be given."

"Hey! That's not funny man.  I'm not as smart as those two are cut me some slack."

Momo shook her head and then pointed a finger at Sakura.  "Ah, youth, it seems they are the same everywhere despite all the differences.

Max laughed.  "Yup, the younger generations will always want more than they can have, while the older generations will always want to keep more than they can hold on to."

Momo gave the red head a curious look.  "And what makes you the expert?"

"Oh, I'm not. I'm just too young to be in the old fuddy duddy group, and too old to be in the youngins group."

"Which means both groups get to pick on you for having the audacity of opening your mouth."  Goshu said teasingly.  "Anyway, we can save the never ending generation gap argument for later, in the meantime, I think you need to talk to your people so they don't start tearing the ships apart.  After that, I think we all need to sit down over a meal and fill you in on our history."

Momo nodded.  "Yes, I think I would very much like to know how the survivors of the Vegeta Rebels came to stand before me tailless, yet with selflessness few Saiyans I have ever met would know."

* * *

The smoke had finally cleared by the time Roshi was done talking to everyone on the Phoenix.  His stomach gurgled and achingly growled for food.  "Shut up you."  Roshi said as he looked down at his waist.  "Ichigo first."

Roshi wasn't a biologist.  While he was quite certain Slip could give a quite lengthy and horridly dull lecture on exactly how a Saiyan was capable of eating many times that which a Human could, and yet not have much more mass.  Slip might have even been able to tell him how that food was changed into energy and then eventually into ki.  

While everything Slip could tell him would no doubt be the best that science could fathom, there were some things that Roshi just had no for science with.

His hunger after a good fight was one of those things.  Anyone who was trained in the use of ki knows full well that they are expending far more energy than their body can possibly contain.  Goshu had often told them that the bonds between the Body, the Soul, and the Mind created ki.

Most people are so weak of soul or mind that they live their lives without any ability to tap into ki.  Others, like Kit clearly produced it, but were unable to control it.

For the people such as Roshi, he knew!  He knew without a fraction of a doubt that in those situations the body was not the source of power but more a tuning fork or focal point for that power.  The energy came from without rather than from within.

That did not of course mean that it did not take excessive amounts of effort and energy for the body to be that tuning fork, lens, or focal point.  It took immense amounts of it in fact, and the more energy one was throwing about the more strain it placed on the body.

In the end, that is how Roshi saw the Super Saiyan transformation, or even the various forms of the Changelings.  Sure, one was physically stronger when he was a Super Saiyan, but in all reality the transformation was just a better lens for their ki.  Albeit, the transformation was one that used massive amounts of energy in order to be that better lens.

He knew that during the fight he was mostly burning carbohydrates and excess proteins for energy.  Now that he was done fighting it had turned to his body fat.

Roshi could practically feel his body feeding on it's own body fat to repair damage and return to a balance after having spent so much energy in the battle.  From past experience he knew that, it would be days before he would stop losing body fat. 

Thus, Roshi was starving for some food.

But he was also worried.

The Super Saiyan transformation itself was primarily a physical transformation.  It fed ravenously off of the body's own store of energy.  To make matters worse, the hunger Roshi felt now was nothing compared to how hungry he had been after his first transformation.

As Ichigo was unconscious at the moment, he knew she wouldn't be eating anytime soon.

Roshi walked to where he had left her on the floor of the hold and shook his head sadly.  Ichigo looked gaunt and nearly cadaverous.  The skin under her eyes seemed to bag and hang off of her face and her hands looked positively anorexic.  Roshi quickly closed his eyes to focus on her heart rate.   Steady, but still very weak for her.

"This isn't good."

While Slip might be the expert when it comes to biological and even a lot of technical things, Roshi had caught something she had missed.

In the ROSAT she had told them that testosterone was a catalyst for the Super Saiyan change and without it Ichigo would never be able to ascend to that level.

Contrary to Slip's statement a catalyst does not allow for a change, it only makes the change easier.

Pan and Bra had never been able to make it to the level of a Super Saiyan.  Roshi suspected more than anything that this was likely due to the fact they had both been raised in a human world.  

He knew from experience that Slip, even when starved would only ever eat slightly more than an average teenage girl.  Which of course was not very much.

Saiyans as a race were naturally lean, and this lead Roshi to suspect that the reason that Bra, and especially Pan had passed out every time they had come close to transforming was that the simply did not have large enough stores of energy to fuel the change.

So, Roshi had set his clandestine plan in motion by rigging Ichigo's rooms to always be colder than normal and supplying her with foods that were especially high in fat content.  He had also given her enough chocolate and other sweets to send most humans into a catatonic diabetic shock.  He then had continuously picked on her about not eating and goaded her into over-eating.

The end result, of course, had been that she had gained a touch of weight.  One could never have called her even pudgy, but as Tee and Boxers had been so keen to point out during their own clandestine plot, she had definitely filled out in all the right areas.

The definition that had created was gone now.  Her formerly tight spandex like undersuit Buu had created for her was now hanging in places it shouldn't hang.

Simply put, while Roshi was hungry, Ichigo could literally be starving to death.

Roshi quickly but gently picked her up and was again surprised at how light she seemed as he carried her up a floor to lay her down on one of the beds in the largest suite.

Once there he covered her with a fleece quilt and then hurried to the medical stores to see if he could find a nutrient drip IV for her.  Roshi shuddered as he found the box he was looking for and grabbed one of the IVs.  "I hate needles."  He winced.  "Oh, how I hate needles."

Roshi was in the middle of a thorough bout of cold sweats by the time he found the instructions for use.  

_Private Stock:  Not for sale.  
CC_

_Saiyan-proof Nutrient IV (Look no needles!)_

Roshi stopped reading and thanked Kami, Kaio, and most definitely Bulma.

_Warning, DO NOT USE MORE THAN ONE IV BAG AT ONCE!!!_

_Unroll the adhesive backed application unit and proceed to attach it to the wrist, under arm, or leg.  Micro needles will transfer the IV through the skin into capillaries and then into the blood stream.  Place the bag on hook of attached stand.  Select the race and then press the go button.  Then sit back and wait._

Roshi knew from the diaries that these things had never been used in Goku's time, so he started to wonder who would have designed them knowing for the natural Saiyan... or possibly family wide dislike for needles, but he quickly forced those thoughts out of his mind as he ran back up and hooked the thing up to Ichigo.

It immediately created a confusing readout of the current nutrient level in her blood and then started dripping drops of liquid nourishment.  The screen did report that the bag needed to be changed in six hours.  Other than that bit of information Roshi hadn't the slightest clue what the rest of the stuff meant.  As nothing was flashing, beeping, or otherwise indicating a problem he quickly went to the pantry to get himself some food.

* * *

July 2, 10:30 AM

Roshi had stayed up the entire first six hours and then changed the IV drip.  Ichigo was breathing stronger so one problem had been diverted.  However his remaining problem hung over his head like the blade of a guillotine.  The last time Ichigo had knocked herself out using the Stopper Beam, or the Disruptor or whatever the heck she called the idiotically effective attack, she had been out for four days.

Last time Dende was there to see to it that they didn't have to worry about certain necessary bodily functions.

Not so this time.

While Roshi had found a bedpan in with the medical supplies he was in absolutely no hurry to do anything other than glare at the thing like it was a curse.

So he stayed up the first six hours pacing trying to think of all the things Ichigo would do to him once she woke up if he DID make use of the bedpan verses all the nasty things she would do to him if he didn't.

Either way he was a dead man.

Finally after about seven hours of pacing he wore himself out enough that he could relax enough to slouch down on the one of the many couches within the room and fall asleep.

He woke suddenly to a feeling that something was terribly horribly wrong.

The suite had an observation bubble; much like a bay window, only larger and with a better view of space, overlooking the front of the ship.  Ichigo was awake sitting on the wrap around bench that touched up against the glass, wrapped in her blanket sobbing to herself with one hand touching the glass as though she were trying to reach out into space itself.

'Ichigo is awake! Oh thank Dende!'  Roshi thought to himself as he quickly used his foot to push the bedpan under the couch he had been sleeping on.

Ichigo startled as though she hadn't realized he was there, she jumped and knocked several of the instant food packs near her off of the bench.  Her tear filled bloodshot eyes met his for a moment and then she turned away as if watching the foils fall to the floor were more interesting.

"I... Roshi, please go away.  I need to be alone.  I... I do not want you t...to see me like this.  I can...not stop crying."

Roshi paused for a moment before he went to the refresher station to fill a large glass of water and grab several tissues for Ichigo.  "You have no reason to be ashamed.  It is ok to cry Ichigo."

She looked up at him and shuddered as racking sobs caught in her throat. "Bu..ut I... sh..ould no..ot be cry..ing.  It is..s shameful to.. the dead."

Roshi sat down beside her and handed her the glass of water, which she took and drank down directly.

"Ichigo, I cannot even pretend I understand your culture, but wouldn't those who died wish to be mourned?"

Ichigo nodded grabbed the handful of tissues, and turned away from him so that her back was to him.  "Yes," she said before she blew her nose, 'but I.. I am crying mo..re for myself th..an for them."

Roshi started to reach for her to massage her shoulders, but stopped as he remembered how little she liked to be touched.  "Ichigo, please, look at me."

She turned and looked into his eyes with a painfully lost and forlorn looking expression.  "You have nothing to be ashamed of.  You have lost more than I can even imagine, but you did everything you could to stop that from happening.  If there is anyone to blame it is myself.  Had I not been so stupid, we might have been able to prevent..." He said directly to her before she turned away again.

"No!  Do not say that Roshi.  Just do not say it.  Never mention that again.  Had you not been there, had you not done all the things you have done for me, everyone would have died."  Ichigo sniffled and then continued.  "I never even asked you for your help.  I never thanked you.  I just expected it.  You helped me even after I almost killed you the first time I ever saw you.  You alone believed in me.  You believed in me even when I could not believe in myself."

Roshi shrugged.  "Well it is not as though the first thing I ever did to you garnered any trust between us."

Ichigo sniffle-snort-laughed as she glared at him.  "You have no idea."

Roshi held his hands up.  "I know, and I am sorry, if their had been any other way..."

"Roshi, I know.  If there is anyone to blame for that it is myself.  I forced your hand."  She looked away.  "You did everything and more for me and I could not even forgive you for something I forced you to do."

"Apology accepted."

Ichigo blinked, sniffled and then looked up at him.  "I am sorry.  I am horrible at apologies.  I demand so much, yet give so little.  I think back and even now I am so selfish.  I cannot stop crying, but I cry for myself not for those who are lost."

"Ichigo, stop this.  You can't blame yourself.  And don't tell me that you are not, because you are.  In this moment you are being selfish.  Only you are being selfish in a self-accusing self-depreciative manner!"  Roshi shook his head, threw caution to the wind grabbed Ichigo's shoulders and forced her to look at him.  "Look at me!  Ichigo, you had to know what that attack would do to you.  You died to stop Blizzard.  You gave everything you had and more when you were alone fighting the three of them.  How can you possibly claim that was selfish?"

Ichigo looked away and her sobs became stronger.  Seeing her totally break down and cry in such a manner was definitely not the response Roshi had been expecting.

Ichigo grabbed the last of the tissues and blew her nose before she relaxed and forced her emotions to calm.  "Roshi... damn it, how do I explain this?"  She looked up and into his eyes.  Her eyes were bloodshot, yet at the same time their pure platinum-blue color was enchanted, enticing, and open to the truth, searching for answers her soul or mind denied her.

"When you died saving Momo and I...  I have known contempt and belittlement all my life, but I had never felt as unworthy as I felt in that moment."  She looked away and stared out the window for what felt like an eternity.  "I hated you.  Nothing would have made me more glad than to grind you under my heel like dirt.  You ripped off my tail and condemned me to a life of an outcast.  You fought better and caught me by surprise, and then, then when I had you beaten, you summoned more power that I could even imagine and you beat me."

"Ichigo I..."  

"I am not finished!  Let me finish or I'll never be able to!"  She turned and pushed her right hand over Roshi's mouth.  "I need to say these things.  I need to."

Roshi simply nodded.

"Then, when I was certain I was dead, you healed me.  I expected you to lord over me and mock me.  I hated you for that.  You were just like Banana and Budo and all the rest, and I hated you."  She looked into his eyes again, "only, you did not."

"You set me in my place and you helped me.  I did not understand what your goal was.  I kept trying to figure out how you were using me.  I was so suspicious and angry those first few days before Banana showed up.  Then when Banana and his goons... when you found us and saved me from them, I was not thinking straight.  You meant to coddle Banana by proclaiming what your linage was, but I saw you as yet another person claiming I was not worthy.  I almost killed you.  I tried to kill you, but you beat me back.  You beat me back and then stopped Banana's men while I raged."

Ichigo looked away and poked at one of the empty foils.  "You gave me half a senzu.  I blocked most of those memories out, but I remember.  You saved me yet again, and I almost killed you for it.  I was so hateful and angry."

She took a deep breath and sighed.  "And then you forgave me."  She looked at him.  "You forgave me.  You helped me recover, and you taught me how to sense ki.  I still remember that eagle.  You have a capacity to trust and to help that I have never seen in anyone."  She looked at him again.  "I came to rely on you.  I came to trust in you.  You were my support.  My foundation when I had no support.  You never gave up and you did not let me give up."

Two large tears rolled down her cheeks.  "When you died to save me, I felt completely unworthy.  I realized how much I needed you.  Without you, I was nothing.  I had lost everything.  And... And then you came back.  You came back and I woke up from a dreamworld of pain and loss to find you saving me again.  You forced my rage and found a way to push me back to the level of Super Saiyan.  A level I would have never reached had I not had your belief that I could.  For a moment there, everything was perfect.  I knew in my soul that my people would live.  You were back and nothing would stop you."

"And then Blizzard surprised us both.  We were out of time, but it did not matter.  I had accepted death the moment I left Saiya in the first place."

Ichigo looked away again, balled up her right fist and slammed it into her thigh hard enough to make Roshi flinch.  "Then when I told you to leave, you would not go.  You spoke of your promise.  Your promise to Kit to return for Mariah."

Ichigo pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.  "You had a life to return to.  You had so much to live for.  I had lost everything, even you."  She rocked and sniffled a few times.  "That's why I did it.  I knew it would kill me.  Roshi that wasn't an act of selflessness, that was a suicide."

"I was dead.  I was in this place with yellow clouds.  I could hear you trying to call me back, but I did not want to go back.  Then as I stood there, my people, the ones who had stayed on Saiya, started to show up.  Some with bodies, others as these wisps of smoke, and they thanked me.  None of them were angry with me.  Then, I felt myself being pulled away.  You brought me back again."

Ichigo shifted and then looked directly at Roshi with a gaze that pierced his very soul.  "Why?  Why did you bring me back?"

Roshi sat their transfixed while Ichigo watched him.  He opened his mouth and tried to talk, but nothing came out.  There were no words for him right then.

Roshi took a deep breath.  "Oh Ichigo, what have I put you though?"

Ichigo's eyes filled with question.  "What do you mean?"

"That was the wrong promise.  When you told me to leave, Kit's promise didn't even register in the far reaches of the back of my mind.  When I died... no that's not important.  I made a promise to myself and to Goku that I wouldn't let you throw away your life.  That was the promise I spoke of.  I couldn't let you die."

Ichigo looked away and spoke so silently Roshi could barely hear her speak.  "But why?"

"Because your people..." The safe diplomatic reply was out of his lips before he even thought.

"My people don't need me anymore!  They are all refugees!  They need you and your family and anyone who will accept them.  I might be able to help, but they certainly do not need me!"

Realization as to what caused her anger struck Roshi like a slap across the face by a small planet.  'Support, need, nothing without; those are words of love.  She loves me.'

"Ichigo, I saved you because I love you.  I couldn't live with myself if I let you die."

Ichigo's eyes bulged as she nearly fell off the bench when she pushed herself away from him.  "What?!?

Roshi blinked.  "Not exactly the response I was looking for."

He could feel her heart racing as she slowly pulled herself together and looked back at him.  "But what about Mariah?  What about your promise to Kit?"

Roshi looked down.  "I don't... This is hard to explain.  Mariah's my friend.  I love her, but... but she's like a sister.  And I promised to return home for her, not to marry her or anything.  I am returning home, and I will be there for her, but I...  with you, it is different.  I don't have to hide.  I can be myself.  I'm truly alive around you."

Ichigo was shivering so Roshi picked up the blanket she had long sense abandoned and moved closer to her.  He was starting to drape the blanket over her shoulders when she jumped forward and hugged him.  Roshi was so surprised that he almost fell off of the bench, and did manage to smack his head against the glass dome of the view window.

"Hold me.  Just hold me, I need to know this isn't a dream.  I need this to be real."  She sniffled as moist, hot tears fell onto Roshi's shoulder.

In that moment, she was so small, so fragile, so warm, so soft, so delicate, so very right, and Roshi wanted to hold her forever.  He pulled the quilt around the two of them and hugged her tighter before he started to stroke her back.  "This is real."

For several minutes neither of them said anything. Then Ichigo pushed herself away from Roshi and shook her head sadly.  "I wish my father would have lived to meet you."  A single large tear fell from her right eye to roll down her cheek.  "I think he would have approved and been happy."

Roshi smiled.  "Ichigo, I know this is hard for you.  But please stop.  I cannot bear to see you cry.  Please stop looking to the past.  We can't change it."

"I know but I just..."

She was stopped when Roshi reached out and pulled her closer.  He gently kissed her on the middle of her forehead and then bent down to kiss away the large tear that was still rolling down her cheek.  "Don't cry."

Roshi was about to move to her other cheek when he suddenly found a finger nearly shoved up his nose.  Ichigo pushed him back and then shook her head.  "No.  Not yet."

"Not yet?"  Roshi repeated sounding almost as sorry/hurt as he was.

"No, I... not yet."  Ichigo looked away and took a deep breath before turning back to him.  "Besides, if you are going to kiss me, you should do it like this."  She said softly as she bent in to kiss him directly on the lips.

The kiss was soft, and sweet and very very much alive.  Heat seemed to pour from her lips to flood his entire body in a moment of hot euphoria.  And then it was over far too soon, with a bit of a pull on his top lip hinting at the passionate hunger lurking there.

Roshi opened his eyes and forced his heart to slow down.  "Wow."

Ichigo seemed to be doing the same thing.  "That was... intense."

"Yes it was, and I am sure with your apt tutelage I will learn.  Shall we try again?"  Roshi said with a glimmer of a smirk in his eyes.

Ichigo sniffled and then laughed.  "Oh no you do not!"  She said as she poked him in the chest with her right index finger.  "I waited a long time to do that, and I am going to saver the moment you big goof."

"Goof?  Me?  I do believe you have me mistaken for Tee.  Now come here you flirt!"  Roshi laughed as he pulled her into another hug.  He slowly pulled his hand up to run it though her hair.  "I wish you hadn't cut your hair.  From a non-combat point of view it looked... really awesome."

Ichigo pushed herself away from him and started coughing as her laughter caught in her throat.  She rolled her eyes and looked at the stars through the glass canopy over their heads.  "This from the fool that wouldn't stop telling me to cut it every-time he saw me for the first several months I knew him?"

Roshi blushed.  "Well ah... you see... ah... now that we're done fighting..."

Ichigo broke out into full beautiful laughter.  "You really do not know anything do you?  I keep forgetting how little you actually know."

Roshi pushed himself further away and half glared at her.  "What are you talking about?"

"My hair!  While you are Saiyan enough, you are not full blooded and that makes you clueless."

"Hey now!"

"A Saiyan's hair doesn't change length once they reach maturity.  It will always grow to the same length and then just stop.  My long really awesome hair will be back in a few days.  That is why it is pointless to cut it.  It just grows right back."

"Oh really?  Well what other Saiyan secrets do you have?"  Roshi replied teasingly.

Ichigo laughed stood up and then bent over to give him a peck on the lips.  Would not you like to know?"  She said as she walked past him to get herself more water.

Roshi bent down to pick up one of the empty food pack foils.  "So I see you found the support rations."  He said pointing at the huge pile of empty foils.

Ichigo came back and sat down across from him.  "I was hungry."

Roshi wiggled the package he held.  "Tofu?  Plain unseasoned tofu?"

Ichigo blushed.  "I was really hungry.  Now throw me that blanket.  I'm tired of always being cold."

Roshi wrapped the blanket around himself.  "Why don't you come get it?"

"Jerk!"  Ichigo replied before she started laughing.  "Hmm, funny how some names just seem to stick."

Roshi picked up one of the cushions from the bench and tossed it at her.  "You should talk Kinomi!"

Ichigo caught it and tossed it back at him.  "That is my Grandmother's name!  Show some respect."

"Uhha!"  Roshi replied as he threw the cushion back at her.

Ichigo jumped at him.  She landed on him and knocked him off the bench and onto the floor where the two of them rolled around half tearing the blanket to shreds as they each tried to pin the other.

Roshi ended up on his back with Ichigo laying on top of him caught in a bear hug.  "There, I got you, and I'm not letting go."

Ichigo's eyebrows arced evilly.  "That so?"  She asked as she pushed her knee up into his groin just hard enough for him to know it was there.

Roshi let her go.  "You cheat."

Ichigo pushed herself off of him and started to poke him in the ribs.  "What is that human saying?  Oh yes, all is fair in love and war."

Roshi who was about the most ticklish person he knew rolled into a ball and squirmed laughing as she tormented him.

"What's that?  Love and war?  So you do?"

Ichigo paused long enough to let the blue faced Roshi catch his breath.  Her mouth clicked shut a few times.  "I... yes I love you!  I would be lost without you."

Roshi rolled over sat up and hugged her.  "I know, I'm sorry.  You said it without saying it.  I shouldn't have forced you."

Ichigo yawned.  "It is ok.  I love you.  I truly do, and I want to hold you forever."

Roshi held her and stroked her back for several minutes until she fell asleep on his shoulder.

"I know, and I'm never letting you go."

Roshi sat there for a long time thinking about what he had said.  He didn't doubt a single word he had said.  The truth when spoken from the heart could not be denied.

He gently ran a finger down Ichigo's cheek.  "You are so beautiful."

"Now, how to break the news to Kit and Mariah without losing them?  Mariah will be hurt no matter what I do...  Kit, well if she can't accept it... she'll accept it."

"Dende what am I doing?  I'm holding the most beautiful, wonderful girl in my arms, and I can't stop worrying.  I'm hopeless."

Ichigo stirred and rolled a bit in his lap so that her hip was pressing down on his groin in a way that was not unpleasant, yet caused him to worry about other things.

"Oh to hell with it all."  Roshi said before he bent down to kiss her gently on the forehead.  He opened his mind fully to her and felt everything from the beating of her heart to the firing of synapses in her brain as she slept.  It would be a long time before she fully recovered from her momentary death, but she was well on the way.  As this knowledge slowly sunk in Roshi relaxed and calmed down.  Without even thinking about it, Roshi's heart and breathing fell into rhythm with Ichigo's.

Shortly thereafter he too fell asleep in her arms.

Ichigo for her part was oblivious to Roshi's worries.  For the first time in many, many months and perhaps the first time in her life, she slept totally at peace with the universe fervent joy filling her heart, mind, and soul.

Each of them returning onto the other their love.

* * *

Up on the Kaioshin's planet Goku looked down and smiled.  "YES, YES, YES, YES, YES!!!  I knew if they just admitted it to each other everything would work out!"

Kaioshin looked down and across space at the two slumbering Saiyan teens before he looked up at Goku.  "You had this whole thing planned from the start."

Goku stopped jumping up and down and looked over at Kaioshin.  "What do you mean?"

"THIS!!! Those two falling in love and the whole thing!  You knew from the start that she wasn't evil so you removed Buu so that He wouldn't kill her and that forced your descendants to work with her and eventually return home to Saiya to try to save it and its people so that those two could fall in love and be happy and so that now that Buu is here you could just go and return to Chichi and get out of your duty to the universe!"  Kaioshin was an odd shade of blue-green when he finished his rant.

Goku scratched his head.  "I don't know what you are talking about, I just hoped for the best and it worked.  Things tend to work out right when you just let them."

Kaioshin grabbed his mohawk and screamed.  "YOU!!!   OH you are impossible!"

Goku scratched his head again.  "Ok, well um thanks for letting me live with you and all.  I had fun, but I better go return to heaven now that I'm dead again.  Besides, ChiChi will be glad to see me."

Kaioshin was holding his head and shaking.  "How can he be such simple minded?  He doesn't even realize his actions, which always end up working out right in the end, have changed the universe yet again.  Gahh, I've never even heard of a smarter idiot!"

Goku was scratching his head again.  "Right, well um... what's he talking about?"  He asked Rou Kaioshin.

Rou Kaioshin laughed.  "Oh nothing.  He's just confused."

"Oh, ok, well I should be going then."

"Just a second there Goku.  I was wondering if you recalled that the lifeforce you gave to Roshi was originally mine that I gave you when Buu was terrorizing the Earth?"

"Oh yeah.  I remember.  I hope you're not mad I gave it to Roshi."

Rou Kaioshin waved the thought away.  "Oh no, not at all.  I just was wondering if you remembered that there were still more than five hundred years of life left in that life?"

"Oh yeah!  I remembered."

Rou Kaioshin paused and then scratched his head in an obvious mimic of Goku.  "And are you planning on telling Roshi that he's going to live for more than five hundred years then?"

Goku smiled.  "Nah, seems he gave almost exactly half of that to Ichigo.  They're smart kids, smarter than me anyway.  They will figure it out."

Rou Kaioshin blinked.  "If you say so."

Goku suddenly turned.  "Hey I would like to keep talking but I think I can smell ChiChi's cooking so..."  Goku didn't even finish before he used instantaneous movement to vanish.

"Goku go bye-bye!  Bye-bye Goku!"  Buu cheered after watching his friend return to Chichi.

"Hmph, and it all worked out in the end."  Kaioshin shook his head.  "Perhaps Goku was right.  Perhaps I am too cynical."

Rou Kaioshin shook his head and laughed.  "He took the Dragonballs with him.  I wonder if this truly is the end?"

Kaioshin's eyes bulged.  "You don't suppose he means to return them to the Earth do you?"

Rou Kaioshin shrugged.  "He has been hoping for a reason to return them for over four hundred years.  What do you think?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thank you all for reading.  This is the last "true" chapter.  An Epilogue should be up shortly.

Please review.

To all of you who have been waiting for this day:  Thanks for your continued support.  

The Smooster

Please come visit my forums  H t t p //Smooster . proboards18 . com / index . cgi  Just copy paste and remove the extra spaces ;)

Any final thoughts would be loved.  


	58. Epilogue

The Return

Epilogue

**Wednesday July 2, 1291**

**_Dear Mariah,_**

**_I plan on saying everything that I am writing down here directly to you, so most likely if you are reading this you already know what this letter says._**

**_That said, I do not know where to start.  I have never been good with words.  What I am going to say in this letter needs to be said, yet at the same time, saying or writing these words is at the moment one of the hardest things I have ever had to do._**

**_I never meant to hurt you.  You asked me why I did not trust you with who I really was, with what I really was.  I still do not have an answer.  At the time I thought I was protecting you by not telling.  Mariah, you are a pure hearted and good person.  You were one of the few people who never judged me by my name.  You saw me for who I was._**

**_And that was the problem.  Who I was, was a lie.  I lied to everyone, including myself.  I hid who I was and what I was.  At first this was to keep others from using me.  Then it was a façade I used so that I could fit in better.  In the end it became a trap that I couldn't get out of._**

**_I trapped myself and hurt you and Kit in the process.  The two of you were the only two who ever saw past my name and my wealth to see me.  And I hid the real me from you._**

**_I'm rambling.  I can't seem to bring myself to say what I need to say here, so I ramble.  Here goes nothing._**

**_At first I lied to protect myself from those who would use me, and then when I found you and Kit and a few other friends like Niko and Carge I continued to lie because I did not want to admit I had lied in the first place.  I also continued to lie because while I know I could trust you... I could not trust myself.  I know that doesn't make any sense but basically that is the honest truth.  I never wanted to hurt you, but I found myself caught.  After the lie was told you would be hurt, and the lie was told even before I became your friend._**

**_I am through with the lies.  I cannot live that way any longer.  This summer has changed my life, and the events that I know of now will likely change the lives of everyone on Earth.   That said, I am not the only one who is done with the lies, my entire family is going to have to face the harsh truth now.  We can no longer live in the shadows and carefully built image we have for ourselves._**

**_But enough excuses and explanations.  I am sorry I didn't get to take you to that dance.  I am sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me to be._**

**_I am sorry I am not the person you think I am.  I never meant to hurt you, and you are one of my best friends, if not my best friend.  _**

**_And while I do not know your mind and cannot read your thoughts, I think that friends is probably all we could ever truly be.  I thought I loved you as more than a friend, but I do not.   You said it yourself when I couldn't tell you who I really was.  I could not find it in myself to trust.  Without trust there cannot be love._**

**_Dende!  I feel like a rambling moron.  I always told myself that I would never ever give the let's just be friends line.  You don't deserve that.  Mariah, you don't deserve any of this.  I have failed you and there is nothing I can do to fix it, which with what Kit calls my hero complex is really driving me up a wall right now._**

**_I am not the right person for you.  I think deep down I always knew we were not right for each other, which is probably why I never told you who or what I really was.  You have a serine peace about you that does not bode well with the stress that my life does entail._**

**_I want to say that you are not losing me.  I still hope to be your friend.  I still hope to be there for you when you need me._**

**_But the truth is... you were right.  I am so confused right now, but I am fairly certain at least as certain as I can be that I am in love with Ichigo.  Perhaps Kit would say it was fate.  I don't know.  All I know is that I'm not the same person I pretended to be.  I am not even the same person I was.  In the past two months I have actually lived nearly a full year.  In that year I have changed.  I cannot return to who I was.  Nor do I want to.  I'm not the klutzy geek.  _**

**_Because of his title as the Champion of the Budoukai, my father is often called the most powerful man on Earth.  Because of what has happened in the last few months I have become far more powerful than he is.   I made a mistake yesterday.  Because of that mistake the sun of the Planet Saiya, the home planet of Ichigo's and my ancestor's people... was destroyed._**

**_I have the power at my fingertips to destroy whole worlds.  I cannot take that lightly.  Even if I could return to being who I was, I would not, and in the end I would only hurt you again._**

**_I will always love you as a friend...  but I am sorry... I can only hurt you with any other form of affection._**

**_Your Friend Always,_**

**_Son Roshi_**

_* * * _

_The Diary of Ichigo Kudamono,  
Day 3 of the Month of Strength, Sunday July 6th, (I think)_

_(I am going to have to learn to get used to Earth's calendar.  I think from now on I will use that for this thing.) _

_Is it so wrong for me to be... happy?  Perhaps happy is the wrong word, I am not sure what word is correct for my current state of mind however._

_I am back in my cabin on the Phoenix now.  I do not even really know why I have grabbed this stolen book and started writing in it again.  I guess I just need to think, and reading all of those thoughts of Roshi's ancestors made an impression on me._

_Roshi and I were given a hero's welcome when the Phoenix showed up to collect us.  I have spent the last several hours walking among my fellow survivors.  All of us are on the Phoenix now.  All one thousand seven hundred forty-five of us that are left that is.  Over half of the survivors are children of less than ten years of age.  Blizzard was nothing if not efficient and we guess that less than one hundred people died in death of our world.  Had Roshi not convinced me, no forced me to evacuate people, none of them would have survived.  _

_But we did survive, and for the first time in my life I walked among my people and talked to each and every one of them.  I walked among my people today not as their Princess, not as my father's heir, but as a fellow survivor.  I can only say that I am proud of them.  Even with so much loss, they are calm and collected.  We are survivors.  We will continue.  We will meet our new challenges and face them.  _

_I only wish I had known more of those who are not with us.  There were only a few people close enough to me to truly be called friends.  Of those, only Ume has died.  Her youngest brother is one of the children Momo took to the catacombs.  I am sure he will make her proud._

_He and the other children have already made me proud._

_When I left Saiya, the person I was would have expected nothing more than the full loyalty and devotion from these people.  The person I am now is... at a loss for words as to how to describe what it feels like to actually be given acceptance, loyalty, and devotion freely._

_Acceptance, Loyalty and Devotion:  These three ideas were expected as duties or rights when I was home.  They are not character traits that one thought of or even gave credit to.  They were just expected to be granted.  Banana is a good example of just how far that loyalty and devotion went at times._

_And now inexplicably, my mind is drawn back to Roshi._

_I sit here and think of Roshi and it is as if half my heart pauses stopped in the moment while the other half races with conflicting emotions._

_How is it that one clueless boy can make time stop and race at the same moment?  How is it he can take away all my worries yet leave me breathless?_

_The past few days have been heaven and hell mixed.  _

_Acceptance, Loyalty, and Devotion make up the core of who Roshi is.  I expected such things from my people, Roshi LIVES by them.  Which is why right now I love him with all my being and want to strangle him at the same time._

_Roshi is the first person to ever truly accept me without pretenses.  He is the first person to ever show me what true loyalty really was, and he has shown devotion to me that I could not, nor would not demand from anyone.  _

_Which is why I want to strangle him.  I suspect that Roshi is singularly incapable of lying to me.  All I have to do is glare at him and he breaks down and starts blubbering about whatever was on his mind.  Which for the past few days has been far too little me, and far too much Mariah._

_Acceptance, Loyalty, and Devotion come in many levels and forms, but why does he have to have such a strong sense of it when it comes to his friends?  Why do I feel envious of something which I can tell myself and know is a good thing?   _

_He feels he has betrayed her and Kit.  Makes me want to go actually make myself a pair of slippers.  He loves me.  I know he truly does.  We are drawn to each other like moths to a flame... yet he is distant because of her.  She is like a sister that he never wanted to hurt yet now cannot avoid hurting.  Part of me almost feels guilty.  The rest would not mind removing the distraction._

_And now I am reading what I am writing and realize that I am writing as if I was heinous bitch with rampant jealousy issues.  I hate when knowing something in my heart and mind cannot stop me from thinking something entirely different in both my heart and mind.  _

_Roshi loves me... yet I cannot help but feel betrayed in a way by how he is so... Roshi._

_I love him for it.  I hate him for it.  I am glad I am back on the Phoenix cause any more time spent alone with him on that little ship would have been insanity._

_He drives me to the edge of rage at times, yet I cannot be mad at him.  Just seeing him warms me, yet he gives me chills...which actually are not entirely unpleasant._

_Oh and then there are his massages.  I have had deep muscle massages before.  They are great for relieving stress after a workout, but none of those can even compare to what Roshi can do._

_He makes me feel alive.  Alive in ways I did not know I could feel alive.  His mere presence and barring can lighten my day and make everything better._

_He makes me happy._

_Is that such a terrible thing? _

_I admire him for his strength.  I admire him more for his strength of character.  Though it infuriates me I cannot be mad at him or Kit or Mariah.   Which means I am either going to go insane, or I am going to have to be a bigger person.  I have changed and grown in my time with Roshi.  He has that effect on people...  I think it is his best trait, and if he is friends with Mariah... I think I need to try to be her friend as well._

_For Roshi's sake as much as my own._

_I want to write more, but I can hear Kit running though the halls trying to escape from the pack of children who have taken to her like fleas.  I think I shall go save her.  Nighty was bad enough, but having fifty or so Saiyan kids chasing you down is a force of nature... or, my kind of fun._

_Ichigo Kudamono_

_* * *_

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Sunday, August 17, 1291_**

**_I've been horribly bad about writing in this thing.  Family tradition aside I do see how venting my frustrations into this thing is probably a good thing, but well lately I have been venting to other people and have been so busy I have not really had the time to keep this thing up.  Let's see here, the last time I actually wrote in this thing was back on the Phoenix on the way back from Saiya.  Suffice to say a lot has happened in the last month._**

**_Speaking of the last month, Wow time flies, I can't believe summer is over already.  I go back to school tomorrow, back to a school where I no longer fit in.  I can't go back to the act.  Teddy and Yoshi may have smoothed things over here while we were gone, but the truth still had to come out.  _**

**_The reaction was mixed, and surprisingly calm when I think about it.  Though acceptance of those who are different has never really been a high quality of the people of Earth, I think our history of benevolence has helped to keep the pointless hatred to a minimum.  _**

**_Even so, helping with the rebuilding of Satan City and West City along with the building of a town for the surviving Saiyans has kept us all very busy.  It will definitely be different to be back in classes rather than helping out around here._**

**_Hmmm, so what has been going on around here?  I guess I should fill that all in for posterity at the very least._**

**_Let's see, we returned to Earth on the 10th of July.  While Teddy tried to keep the return a quiet event, Ima Gossip soon learned that we had put up temporary housing for some 2,000 people on our land near Mt. Frypan and Videl's Lookout.  She showed up there with cameras rolling and just about ended up dead after she insulted Sakura._**

**_She pressed charges and then seemed surprised when we pressed charges on her for trespass.  Just because it was near lands that we have preserved, as a park for the public does not mean that all of the Ox King's old lands are public._**

**_Had Teddy not done such a good job of organizing the rebuilding efforts Ima could have made a lot more noise, as it was, by the time we got back to Earth, no one was homeless and most of the businesses had been rebuilt with temporary buildings._**

**_Even so the stink had been made and people were grousing.  Ichigo jokingly suggested that it would have been better had Sakura actually killed Ima, which I almost agree with.  _**

**_We released a public statement and then let Ichigo and a few of the other Saiyans talk to the public.  After it became clear that they had lost everything most of the people of Earth were surprisingly sympathetic.  Actually, I need to stop being so negative; most people have a desire to help, if only we give them a chance.  _**

**_Anyway, after the devastation wrecked by Snow and her men, we had rather stopped hiding our abilities.  While we were gone, a survivor of the Army had come forward and given his testimony of the fight with Snow and the Army itself had released some of the visual images it had recorded.  The hat was out of the bag, and with the arrival of Ichigo's people there was really no reason to deny who we were anymore._**

**_This lead to a short-lived boycott on CC products.  It was short lived because CC basically is the epitome of a megamonopoly.  We do not control everything, but in the technical fields, very few rivals exist.  But hey, what can I say?  We simply make a better product than anyone else._**

**_Meanwhile, this was about the time Ichigo got sick.  She seemed to be recovering rapidly from the stresses she had endured fighting Blizzard, but I guess her immune system just was not quite up to snuff and she got herself a nice case of the measles.  I have a really funny picture of her drinking a mug of chicken broth while covered in blankets, dotted with red measles, and having her unique form of mangled behead._**

**_She must have been really out of it at the time, because she is still quite pride bound about not appearing to be weak and thus, I have a feeling she doesn't realize I took that picture._**

**_I was really quite worried for her though, seeing her like that scared me half to death.  She looked miserable and the very fact that she got sick caused quite a stir among the various people in the know.  Slip at least was fairly good at containing her excitement as they ran every test they could think of on poor Ichigo._**

**_She is so stubborn though.  Stubborn and pride bound in ways that defy sanity in times.  This was the first time in her life that Ichigo had really been sick, and given that her mother had died of some horribly debilitating disease when she was younger it scared her more than Blizzard ever had.  I think for a while she was convinced she was going to wither away and die regardless of what the various doctors were telling her._**

**_Even so, her sense of duty overrode her personal concern and until we forced her into bed under watch at the Capsule Corp, she had still been doing everything she could to help the other Saiyans integrate into their new lives._**

**_As the doctors were somewhat afraid that given the lack of proper nutrition many of the refugees had while captive or in hiding, Ichigo might be infecting the other Saiyans, they forced her into isolation at the CC, which definitely helped her recover.    _**

**_Interestingly enough it does not seem that they brought any contagious diseases to Earth and under normal circumstances the measles virus would not have been much of a match for her immune system.  As it was it nearly killed her, which did cause no small amount of problems._**

**_The largest of which is that it set her back in her training so much that right now she's not even as strong or fast as she was when Snow showed up.   This is of course flustering her to no end, and causing her to have an almost single minded need to train like mad in the moments she is not working with setting up the permanent town and orphanage for her people._**

**_Odd how even though she denies being their leader, she claims that her father was the last King and that was how it was going to stay, she is definitely still the one everyone looks to.  Actually, it may not be that odd, the best leaders are the ones who care for the people rather than the position._**

**_Anyway, Ichigo is working a lot with Sakura and Boxers as Boxers has taken to training Sakura in his spare time (and making as much spare time as he can)._**

**_She has stopped sparring with me, which rather sucks.  She says she doesn't want to waste my time and will be back to beat on me when she is back to her old self.  Part of me hopes that happens soon._**

**_Ah well, Max is reopening her restaurant tonight, and I have reservations for two.  If she isn't going to let me help her train, I'm going to at lest keep her well fed._**

**_Anyway in other news, one of the good things that happened however was that Kit and Mariah showed up at the Capsule Corp one day to talk to me and ended up talking to Ichigo for most of the afternoon.  Now personally I do not know if it is a good thing that Slip, Kit, Mariah, and Ichigo now seem to be working together and conspiring against me, but at least the four of them are not trying to kill each other._**

**_One of the more interesting developments of the whole summer actually happened last week when Momo put her foot down and made Ichigo eat her words.  Ichigo had been stating that they needed to preserve their customs as best they could while adapting to the new customs of the Earth.  After a discussion with my parents Momo decided it would be best if Ichigo, Sakura and some of the other older youth attend school with myself or Slip, Tee, and Boxers._**

**_While I wasn't there I guess Ichigo did not much care for the idea of going to school.  In the end I guess it was Kit that convinced her by pointing out going to school would be one way to keep watch on me._**

**_Which brings me up to a point I seem to be avoiding... Mariah._**

**_I will not claim to be an expert on the Female mind.  There are days that I wonder if they have a mind.  So we got back the evening of the 10th and I went and found Mariah the next morning._**

**_I never ever want to be in the same position as long as I live.  I swear I must have sweat liters while on the way to her house.  So anyway, there I was stumbling over my tongue and not knowing where to start when Mariah simply blurts: _**

**_"Roshi, I love you, but this will never work.  I can't be your maiden to save.  I don't want to be saved.  I needed it once and didn't much care for the moment.  Besides, I think you already saved enough people, so if you are here to apologize don't.  If you are here to ask me out again, then sure, but as friends, with other people along too, like that time at Mt. Frypan.  I don't want you to feel like you have to romance me.  I think we're better as friends."_**

**_Then she blinks away tears and asks me if I was ok._**

**_Talk about stealing my thunder!  I didn't know what to say and basically just stood there, mouth flapping like a fish and feeling like a complete dunderhead for the next few moments._**

**_Then I handed her the letter I had written and said that I had basically ended up with the same conclusion and that I was sorry for hurting her._**

**_She shook her head, told me it was probably better that way._**

**_It turns out that while I was gone she met a guy named Miro, one of John's friends, and the two of them hit it off spectacularly._**

**_I am glad for her, but I really don't quite understand why I seem to have this lingering regret.  Call it jealousy or perhaps a touch of bigotry.  I realize how odd this may sound since I basically was going to do the same thing to her, but she beat me to it.  I feel oddly slighted._**

**_Then there is always Sakura and Boxers.  I swear cupid emptied a full quiver into their butts the way those two act.  They are even worse than Niko and Carge, it is almost embarrassing to be seen around them._**

**_Even Slip the anti-dating pessimist seems to be spending an unusual amount of time with Ichigo's blind friend Ringo.  Ringo was one of the first people to come forward asking about being trained in our style of fighting.  As everyone was so busy with other things we sorta brushed him off.  So there he was one day talking to Ichigo while she recovered when Slip came in as he was leaving and told him off for being blind and not seeing the tray she had set down near Ichigo's bed.  When she realized what she had said and to whom she had said it she asked him how she could make it up to him.  _**

**_I was not convinced Slip was the best choice for a ki trainer, but she has actually taken to it quite surprisingly well._**

**_Only Kit seems to have avoided the sudden sparks of love that are flaring up all over the place.  I guess surviving the horrors of Saiya and the two attacks on Earth has made people ready for romance.  I have heard that the doctors are already getting ready for a very busy time in the delivery room next spring._**

**_Which of coarse brings me back to Ichigo.  What can I say about Ichigo?  Well, we are not really dating.  We have both been too busy this summer to spend much time alone with each other.  Part of me wonders if everything we had between us was just the passion of the moment and thus wasn't anything at all.  The rest knows that there is something more there.  Something precious that like diamonds takes a long time to fully form.  I can read her and sense her like no one else, and I am at peace when I am with her.  _**

**_Yet, I have seen a side of her that I doubt many others know exists.  I have seen a delicate flower-like side that much like a crystal or a perfect flake of snow is fragile in its beauty.  _**

**_I know that while she denies it, my stupidity and lack of trust hurt Mariah.  I cannot bear to think of doing the same to Ichigo.  That soft innocent side of her is easily hurt and the thought of hurting her pains me.  _**

**_So here I am reluctant to move forward because of the past yet petrified of moving too slowly and losing the future._**

**_If I knew the answer to the questions of my heart I think I would be a very, very wise man._**

**_As it is... I am up way too late for having school in the morning.  I could go on in circles around this topic forever, but right now I think I am simply going to go to bed._**

**_Son Roshi_**

_* * *_

_The Diary of Ichigo Kudamono  
Saturday, Aug 30, 1291_

_I just woke up.  Earth's sun is not even up yet.  It is still dark and peaceful.  Too bad the peace will not last_

_It is my seventeenth birthday for the second time today.  Roshi reminds me that I never did anything while we were in the Room of Spirit and Time that could constitute a birthday, but I honestly would prefer to avoid all the trappings of a formal celebration.  _

_I hate nostalgia.  I hate this feeling of loss.  I hate all the pomp and formality that Momo and everyone else is putting into my birthday.  So if I am now old enough by our standards to rule.  I already told them that I want them to make a new start here.  _

_But since when do people listen to me?  So the art of leadership is getting people to listen when it is important.  So they have to be given the chance to feel like they have some control.  Ugh, I thought I would be done with this sort of nonsense._

_Roshi is not helping either.  He thinks it is funny.  If I could I would beat the snot out of him and wipe that dang goofy grinning smirk of his face, but right now that would just be an effort in embarrassment, I am so far from where I was before.  I am beginning to suspect that forcing myself to use my disruptor attack did some permanent harm to me.  I just... seem off, perhaps it is only perception, but it is annoying never the less.  At least I beat Slip in a spar yesterday._

_Even worse, we have another tedious meeting with Roshi's relatives today as well.  It will no doubt break down into senseless bickering and once again nothing will be accomplished._

_If only all of Roshi's relatives had his sense._

_-----This is pointless I am going to stop complaining and go back to bed----_

_Ok, I give in.  I am back to write more deeply personal thoughts down in this stupid book._

_I thought fighting Blizzard would be the hardest thing I would ever have to face in my life.  I did not think it would be so hard to let go of the past.  _

_In all honesty, I never expected to ever truly have to lead.  Had everything gone as expected, I would have been wed to __Suikan today.  That changed five years ago when he switched places with me in our trial and was killed in my stead._

_That my Aunt and everyone else insists on making my birthday an issue worth celebrating has forced me to recall painful memories I had hoped to put aside.  I miss my father.  There are times when I do not understand myself, I hated so many things about Saiya, but yet that was my life.  That life was and is who I am.  I do not wish to forget that.  Thus, I struggle to let go of the pain, yet hold on to my past._

_There are moments when I wonder why I was allowed to cheat death.  I was dead like so many other honorable men and women, yet I was able to come back.  I was able to come back, and they were not.  I wonder how different my life would be had my mother not died, or Suikan not been killed._

_I sit here and wonder how things might have been and realize that I am allowing myself to feel sorry for myself when I have little or no reason to feel sorry for myself and that makes me feel worse._

_I struggle every day now with the ghosts of my past and the worries of my future.  _

_Which when I stop to appreciate them for a moment I realize how lucky I am to have those worries and those ghosts.  I have changed so much these last few months here, and having a future that is not set in stone and is not predestined so that I can worry about it is probably the biggest change._

_After Suikan was killed I started to dread this day.  I hoped it would never come.  Now that it has arrived I find myself in an unknown situation with none of the reasons I dreaded my Birthday hanging over my head any longer, yet still very much dreading the day none the less._

_There has not been a day that has gone by that I have not missed my mother, or Suikan.  I did not have very many friends, and had even fewer I could call loved ones.  Now I can add my father, Meron, Ume and all of Saiya to that list._

_I miss them greatly and I hope I never forget them for they are who I was and who I am now.  _

_But all things must change... even me._

_Those first few days after Saiya's destruction when I was alone with Roshi before the Phoenix rescued us were, difficult.  I wasn't myself directly after that and I let the situation go further than it probably should have gone.  _

_Then I became ill upon returning here to the Earth and between that and the efforts to build my people a new life here, things have become strange between Roshi and I._

_I am drawn to him in a way that I cannot describe with words, yet frightened by that very attraction in ways I never knew were possible._

_He is a friend in ways that I have never had a friend before and he means more to me than almost anyone on this planet.  Through him, and Kit I have gotten to know several "kids" my own age.  Mariah tolerates my presence and I cannot say much more than the same for her.  _

_She like most humans does not trust me or my people and the tensions found within that school Roshi insists I go to, are nothing compared to the fear and anger starting to form in other areas of the world._

_The terribly truth of it all though is that most of the fears of these people are true enough.  Our existence on this world was bought with blood, death, and destruction, and none of my people are truly innocent.  I least of all._

_The last time Roshi and I openly walked the streets of Satan City a mob formed and people started throwing bottles.  They could not hurt us and that caused even more anger.  Roshi was about to say something when a woman whose husband had died when I blew up the moon suddenly started to berate the mob._

_If only she knew the truth._

_If only the families of those five people I murdered when I first came though the wormhole knew._

_I am not the same person who killed those five and the man on Namek.  Once I would have called them casualties of war and not given them a second thought.  Seeing the death and destruction on Saiya has forced me to realize that no one is ever simply a casualty.  What I did was wrong and I will never be able to make things right._

_I think in part that is what keeps me from letting Roshi in again.  I do not deserve him.  _

_I do not deserve many of the things I have had happen to me.  I am wallowing in my self-pity again so I will stop.  It is unbecoming._

_Perhaps however, I can someday make myself more worthy of him.  _

_I hope to never forget who I was, but I cannot live in the past.  Who I will be is being determined this very moment and ever moment that follows._

_I can only hope to make the best of them._

_* * *_

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Sunday, August 31, 1291_**

**_Well I just returned home from Ichigo's birthday party.  Though I do not think calling it a party is quite the right term.  Goku made sure of that... but more on that later._**

**_I don't think I have seen Ichigo in a worse mood than she was earlier today.  As it was the last weekend of the month she, Momo, and a few of the other elder Saiyans had a meeting with my relatives about how the integration into Earth's society is going.  Once again Gotan almost earned himself a quick death by inciting Ichigo._**

**_Of the survivors there are fourteen children of the age to partake in their Trial's.  One of the kid's parents was one of the people Ichigo and Momo brought with them and he was quite adamant that there had to be a formal Trial of Passage._**

**_Gotan made an ass of himself by calling the Trial barbaric, and though part of me still agrees with him, I have to wonder why he is so abrasive for no reason._**

**_Anyway, it seems that the topic of a Trial of Passage has been a heated topic for the survivors and it seems Ichigo and Momo wanted our help in determining what to do about it.  Ichigo does not want to forget their traditions, yet also does not want to risk any more of the children's lives._**

**_Dad basically saved the day by pointing out that we really don't have the open land to let a normal trial take place, nor do we have the need for formal warriors.  He pointed out that whether the adults had taken and passed a Trial of Passage did not matter to him he would train anyone who wanted to be trained.  Of course he didn't say it quite like that... more like he talked for about two hours to get that point across.  Ichigo seemed happy with the outcome and declared that surviving the destruction of Saiya and being reunited with the remnants of the Vegeta rebels could be thought of as the Great Trial and no more trials would be needed._**

**_This caused more argument and the issue was not solved today, but I think in the end a trial of age of some sort will probably be worked out at least as a formality._**

**_Next came the argument about their tails and that only a few of them had decided to follow Ichigo's advice and have their tails removed._**

**_Then came the issue with Ima Gossip continuously causing them problems._**

**_I don't think I need to continue... suffice to say the meeting sucked._**

**_Ichigo looked like she could eat uranium and spit A-bombs when she left.  For some reason I think she was avoiding me again today._**

**_Anyway, then came her party._**

**_Sakura, Slip, Tee, Boxers, and I had to go drag her out of her and Momo's new house and force her to attend._**

**_She threatened to kill us all in very elaborate and painful ways._**

**_Anyway the party was really a ceremony of sorts.  Ichigo was forced to sit on a raised dais as people came forward and spoke about her life and wished her an honorable victorious life as she came of age.  Many of the people had gifts or tokens to give her.  I could tell she felt really uncomfortable with the level of honorary respect everyone was giving her._**

**_Then finally the people who really knew her came up to talk and give her gifts.  Last month Momo had told me about how all of this would happen and wanted me to be the first of the close friends to speak for her and give her a gift.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to say and what to give her and I hope she liked what I had to say about how much she has grown as a person since I met her.  She kept giving me the oddest look while I was talking so I really wonder what she was thinking at the time._**

**_Anyway, the look on her face when I presented her with a nearly perfect reproduction of her mother's pendant was worth every second of it.  I could tell that she was trying very hard to not cry while wanting very badly to do so.  I hope eventually she will be able to just be herself in front of her people and not worry if they will accept her._**

**_Then Sakura spoke and her words brought a hush over the crowd.  Ichigo has stated several times that she will never let them officially crown her Queen.  She says she wants her father remembered as the last ruler of the Saiyan people, and that Queens were not needed on Earth.  Anyway Sakura told us all that while she was helping Momo evacuate the capitol she happened to stop in Ichigo's old bedroom.  She said that even though she knew it was a crime punishable by instant execution she stole Ichigo's old platinum tiara from its locked case._**

**_Sakura actually looked a bit hesitant when she pulled out a fine wood box and opened it for Ichigo to look inside.  She asked that Ichigo forgive her, her crimes and wear the tiara because as much as she might like to she could not declare herself NOT to be the Crown Princess._**

**_The look in Ichigo's eyes!  She almost looked like she was thinking about blowing Sakura to smithereens right there.  Though I think that was more for forcing her to wear the thing that it was for stealing it in the first place._**

**_I just wish Ichigo had been wearing a dress or something other than her Royal Armor, she looked really really good with that tiara in her hair._**

**_Sakura's father (Who I am still convinced SHOULD be her great grandfather he's so old) spoke next about this one time when Ichigo had helped him to make one of his best batches of wine he had ever made.  Ichigo was blushing the entire time and the old man seemed to enjoy himself immensely.  He gave her a plant.  I think it is some sort of grape or something to make wine with but she seemed to like it so it must be something the old herbalist saved from Saiya._**

**_Slip, Tee, and Boxers gave her a photo album from the trip to Saiya.  Ichigo didn't look though it last night but I do hope I'm there when she finds all the screenshots of the girls while they were in the hot tub Tee and Boxers included in it.  I also hope I'm there when she gets their story about how those pictures were made._**

**_My dad, Teddy, and PJ went up to represent the rest of the family.  Dad gave her the deed to the land their new town and farms are being built on, while Teddy and the rest gave her the rights to the buildings and to a bunch of other stuff that really isn't to important._**

**_Ringo walked up to her and told her that he didn't need eyes to see how much she had already done for her people.  He said he didn't have a real gift so he would go look for one and come back when he found what he was looking for.  Oddly enough as he flew off what he said made sense... even coming from a blind man._**

**_Lastly Momo walked up to her and told her how much she reminded her of her sister, Ichigo's mother, before she proceeded to tell everyone a few stories about young Ichigo and her mother.  She then called out for them to bring it and Ringo, Sakura, and a bunch of little kids including Nighty (who much to PJ's displeasure has taken to flying herself over to her pony and friends' houses) brought this big painting up to her._**

**_The painting is of Ichigo's mother and had been taken from its frame in the last minutes before Blizzard sacked the Palace.  I knew about it cause Slip can't keep secrets and Momo and Teddy had been restoring it for the last few weeks. _**

**_Ichigo did break down and cry.  I have never seen anyone cry tears of joy quite like she did.  One by one many of the things she had treasured most and had thought lost forever were being returned to her._**

**_She wasn't the only one.  Most of the audience joined her, and a wound they had all felt healed just a little tonight._**

**_Then Goku showed up._**

**_I think Ichigo and I were the only two who knew who he was at first.  Ichigo had just finished thanking Momo and the crowd was starting to cheer and get up, some of the less well behaved had started to run for the food line.  And then Goku just walked out into the crowd and calmly asked to speak._**

**_I saw him the same time Ichigo did and then she glanced at me just as confused as I was._**

**_She yelled and everyone became silent as Goku walked up to the dais.  I'll never forget what he said:  "Hi ah Ichigo, I have a gift too, may I give it to you?"_**

**_Ichigo mutely nodded and he continued.  "Ah, actually this isn't really just for you.  More like it is for everyone, but you helped make it possible so I'll give it to you.  I've waited a long time for this and I think I can help you fix a problem you don't think can be fixed."_**

**_He then scratched his head and stopped talking before continuing again.  "Oh, yeah the gift.  Well here, Roshi knows where one of these is.  Now you have another that makes ah... five more someplace to find."_**

**_AND HE GAVE HER THE ONE STAR DRAGON BALL!!!!!!!!!_**

**_He gave her the Dragon Ball and then just put his fingers to his forehead said bye and vanished.  Then Tee figured it out and started shouting about "THAT WAS GOKU!!!!"_**

**_Needless to say the night became very interesting.  Slip wanted to go start looking for the Dragonballs right that moment while Ichigo didn't really even know if she wanted to look for them, and Gotan insisted that the Dragonballs never be used because of the havoc they caused before Goku left with them._**

**_Meanwhile most of the rest of the people didn't know why everyone else was so hyper and we spent most of the night filling everyone in on our history (which should have been done sooner if you ask me).  _**

**_Anyway, it is now 2 in the morning and I need to sleep.  I am getting up early in the morning to help Ichigo find the rest of the DBs.  The four star ball has sat far too long alone on my shelf._**

**_Night,_**

**_Son Roshi_**

**_* * *_**

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Sunday, August 31, 1291_**

**_Ichigo will probably never stop surprising me.  We had nearly a hundred of her people following her around today as we found the rest of the Dragonballs.  They wanted her to wish for a new world or for the lives of everyone Blizzard killed.  They wanted her to wish for everything to be back to normal._**

**_I wouldn't have blamed her had she wished for those things._**

**_But she's still reading Gohan and Videl and Pan's journals and she said she wouldn't be wishing for anything like that._**

**_In her first wish she wished for the lives of those innocent people who had been killed because of her direct actions or presence her on Earth be returned to them here on Earth._**

**_Her second wish surprised me.  She wished that the dragon no longer have to grant any wish that might negatively affect its purity.  She gave Shenlong free will._**

**_It will be interesting to explain how all the people who had died on the Moon or in Blizzard's attack have suddenly returned... but perhaps this is also another thing that deserves to be told._**

**_Besides... I can't think of all that many selfless wishes that Shenlong would actually grant right now._**

**_That and I really don't want to see him anytime soon.  For some odd reason seeing this big huge dragon suddenly start smiling and hug Ichigo was just a bit unnerving._**

**_Gah!  I need to go... more next time._**

**Son Roshi**

*** * ***

_The Diary of Ichigo Kudamono  
Sunday, May 30, 1292_

_This has been an interesting day.  I have lived on this planet for almost a year now and I have yet to fully figure out Earthen customs.  Today I graduated from Orange Star High School.  _

_Seemed like a rather silly affair to me.  A celebration of the end of schooling when anyone with any sense knows that one never stops learning.  Besides Mariah and Roshi both plan on going and doing more learning at an even bigger school named Skylark University, so it is not even the end for some of the students._

_As far as I am concerned, I am done.  I have gotten to know a lot of great people for what I have to do I cannot really be taught by someone else._

_At least this wasn't as silly as the Prom.  I thought Saiyan males were bad, human males openly leered, ogled, and attempted to grope me that entire night.  I probably shouldn't have broken the one boy's arm, but I still think he deserved what he got._

_Though, I do have to admit seeing Kit dancing with Vincy was fun.  Vulpines might not be any good with Ki, but they are oddly flexible and when the two of them did that one dance it was quite impressive.  Almost as impressive as those two falling for each other so fast.  Seems like only last week when Kit was commenting about how she was already gray so she would not have to wait long to be the old gray hag._

_My mind is wandering, I think I have picked that up from Roshi.  He rambles far too much.  Funny thing though is that I do not care.  I doubt anyone will ever read this so I can wander and ramble all I want and the graduation and that silly prom are both examples of truly dumb customs._

_Sakura and Boxers are here so I'll write more later.--_

_* * *_

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Saturday, August 28, 1292_**

**_Well I'm done moving into my dorm room._**

**_I think I'm living some odd curse.  "May you live in interesting times."  Yay, fate loves me._**

**_Ok, see Mariah got a full ride scholarship to Skylark.  This was good.  Ichigo chose not to go to any more schooling.  This was bad._**

**_Ichigo helped me move all my stuff to school.  This was good.  
Mariah's room is DIRECTLY across the hall.  This is bad._**

**_Kit was there helping Mariah move in.  This was good.  
Kit pointed out that Mariah broke up last June and I'm not technically dating Ichigo.  This was VERY BAD._**

**_Ichigo gave me "the look" then glanced at Mariah, shrugged said she had to be going but she knew where to find me and left..._**

**_THAT WAS SCARY!!_**

**_I swear I am no closer to figuring out how her mind works and the fact that other than that one time directly after Saiya blew up she hasn't let me really get close to her is actually starting to bother me._**

**_Part of me wonders if she trusts me.  Given everything that happened with Mariah I wonder if she doesn't have reason not to._**

**_Mariah is like a sister to me so it is not like anything is going to happen there, but oh ok so I have not really pursued Ichigo overly actively either.  I mean it's rather hard she doesn't like going out in public because of all the problems that the wandering idiot still cause.  (Thankfully Ima Gossip retired last year, so the idiot count is starting to go down and life is returning to a semblance of normal around here.)  _**

**_Okay, okay, so Ichigo has become my best and closest friend and neither one of us seems to want to move beyond that.  _**

**_So why am I worried about losing her?_**

**_It isn't like I can't fly back to her place in like three minutes._**

**_I guess it just feels like I've moved to a new stage of my life and left her behind.  Having Mariah still there doesn't seem to help the feeling much._**

**_Gahhh  I'll worry more later._**

**_Son Roshi._**

**_* * *_**__

_The Diary of Ichigo Kudamono  
Saturday, Aug 28, 1292_

_Roshi's writing in his journal right now.  I do not know how I know that but I know that._

_Kit thinks I should be worried about Roshi living across the hall from Mariah, and given that I know Mariah is still somewhat interested in him I guess perhaps I should, but I am not._

_I am not because I know Roshi._

_As time has past this year I have come to realize something about Roshi and I.  We share the same soul._

_Now, I know I know, this seems odd coming from me as I tend to thumb my nose at the whole romantic garbage heap that seems to be so popular on Earth.  I am not saying that Roshi and I are soul mates, I do not know if such things exist.  What I am saying is that I am still slowly regaining a sense of myself from last year.  I think now I've figured out why everything seemed just a bit off after Saiya._

_When Roshi brought be back, he put a little of himself in me.  I was not used to it so I had to basically relearn everything I knew about ki, but now that I have I can sense a little of me in him and a little of him in me._

_We are bound by a stronger link than any pair of mates are._

_The thing that surprises me is that I do not think Roshi has figured this out quite yet.  He knows there is more there then normal, but I do not think he truly understands, and it is quite odd for him to not know something before me._

_I would tell him, but I like seeing him sweat like he did today._

_Besides, once he figures it out I will lose the only think keeping Momo off my back about marriage and children.  _

_So what if I am breaking tradition.  I do not want to be part of some tradition.  Besides, I still do not know if I even want children.  That was always an expected duty.  Now that I have the choice..._

_What should I name them?_

_Dende! Being on Earth has turned me into a girl._

_* * *_

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Friday, May 6th, 1293_**

**_Wow, today was the start of the 197th _****_Tenkaichi Budoukai.  For some reason I never expected it to be so very busy._**

**_Well, I knew this year's would be busy.  Because of all the Saiyans who have been trained by Yoshi and my Father they decided to go back to the old way of running the Budoukai.  Today was the prelims.  Tomorrow the actual finals take place, and the winner is the only champion.  My father relinquished his title to join the rest of the fighters in the prelims._**

**_So of course we hit each other the first round of the prelims and heavily damaged one of the several arenas._**

**_It was hard fought but I won a supposedly shocking upset._**

**_Yeah, it was a fun day.  Thankfully, Ichigo and I are in different brackets so we won't face each other until the finals start.  She is in even better condition than she was before the fight with Blizzard.  _**

**_I wish I could say the same for myself.  Too much slacking at Skylark this year I think._**

**_Ah well, even so no one is anywhere near my level so this should be fun tomorrow. _**

**_Too bad Tee won't be joining us in the finals.  He was paired against Ichigo in the second round.  He flew at her and she grabbed him and tossed in out and onto the ground.  The match was over before most people even heard the gong start to ring._**

**_I however do not feel sorry for Boxers.  He purposely threw his match with Sakura, the little suck up._**

**_Ah well, I need my sleep._**

**_* * *_**

_The Diary of Ichigo Kudamono  
Saturday, May 7th, 1293_

_I beat Roshi!_

_This has been the first formal event thing I have been to on Earth in the last two years that really impressed me._

_Or at least it was before I got myself mobbed by camera toting idiots that I could not just blast into oblivion._

_So what if I am the first female to ever win.  So what if I am the first person who wasn't a Son or a Briefs to win in five hundred years._

_I did not fight to win those things.  I fought to kick Roshi's ass fair and square._

_And I did._

_Time to go rub it in._

_* * *_

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Friday, May 7th, 1293_**

**_She cheated._**

**_Ok so she didn't cheat, she tricked me._**

**_Ok so she didn't so much as trick me, as I was really dumb._**

**_I hate how much faster she is than I am.  Gah!  So we start dancing around the ring far to fast for most people to see anything more than the moments of impact when she acts like she is going to knee me in the crotch.  _**

**_Ok so given our history I wasn't going to take my chances and I jump back._**

**_Back is no problem cause I was flying._**

**_It was however a problem when she instantly goes Super Saiyan, which I didn't think she could do cause she hadn't done to my knowledge since the fight with Blizzard, and knocks me right into the grass._**

**_I can't believe she knocked me out in the first round of the Finals!_**

**_GAH_**

**_I can't believe Kit, Mariah, and Slip were cheering for her!_**

**_Women are evil fiendish creatures and Ichigo is the queen._**

**_Now I need to go find her and kick her butt for keeping a secret like that from me._**

**_Gah! she is such a tease!_**

**_* * *_**

_The Diary of Ichigo Kudamono  
Saturday, September 10th, 1293_

_I feel like one of those girly girls from those horrible chick flick movies Slip likes so much._

_Weddings are so much fun!  On Saiya we did not have weddings.  People were formally married and then they became mates and that was that._

_I found the reading of the Fates at Kit's wedding today to be really interesting.  I still do not believe that fate does anything.  We make are own destiny, but her people believe very strongly in fate.  So strongly that they have a reading of all the things that fate caused to happen to bring the two of them together._

_I found it all quite elaborate and interesting._

_Roshi fell asleep._

_Roshi is a natural romantic when it comes to the way he acts by himself but he has no appreciation when it happens to other people.  I think it is rather cute._

_Hmmm, I do not use the word cute very often.  I like how it sounds.  Roshi the cute._

_Or maybe I did drink too much wine.  How was I supposed to know that Vulpines are not affected by normal alcohol so their wine has other drugs in it?_

_Who cares!  I had fun._

_Kit looked so happy._

_Maybe... maybe I'm ready..._

_* * *****_

**_Son Roshi's Journal  
Thursday, June 15th, 1295_**

**_Well, it has been four years._**

**_Four years ago today, I met Ichigo and we almost killed each other._**

**_Later today, I will finally make her my wife._**

**_Oh, the painting just got here.  Too bad it is all wrapped up, I was really hoping to see it.  Mariah's mother spent enough time on the thing._**

**_All I know is that it will be like the big one of her mother.  Something about a family tradition she plans on continuing.  I really don't like the smirk and glimmer in her eyes every time she says that.  It is far, far too intoxicating._**

**_Dende! I never thought I would be this nervous.  I can hardly think straight right now. _**

**_I bought a house yesterday.  Just a small house between my parents place and Momo's.  I guess it will have to be a surprise now.  I was hoping to show it to her before I bought it._**

**_But Ichigo is not talking to me.  Something about my future wife not talking to me in the days before my wedding makes the butterflies in my stomach kick like a Changeling.  _**

**_GAH!!!  She claims it is another tradition, but I think most of it is because of Kit.  I didn't mean to insult her I only said she looked like she ate a beachball!  So I guess that's not considered to be funny by any woman I know.  But she DOES!  She looks like she ate a big huge beachball._**

**_I just hope she doesn't pop today. _**

**_And now I need to slap myself for being selfish.  I do hope that her triplets... wow triplets I couldn't imagine!  Anyway I hope they are all healthy when they are born... just not today._**

**_And I know Vulpine pregnancies are short and I know that was her dream from the time she was just a little girl but wow, kids already!  _**

**_And here I am on my wedding day hours away from getting married to the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and I'm panicking because I am suddenly realizing that I might eventually become a father and that scares the hell out of me._**

**_I am getting way ahead of myself.  Lots of stuff to happen first.  A couple of I do's and the honeymoon and MANY years of just the two of us first._**

**_Yeah... focus on the here and now.  Lots to think about._**

**_At least Ichigo is wearing a dress and not some nasty armor or something._**

**_She's going to be so beautiful._**

**_And I'm going to love her forever._**

**_This is going to be one of the greatest days of my life, if not the greatest._**

**_The greatest... wow... _**

**_Wow, four years and wow.  Four years ago I was fighting school bullies and then she showed up and changed everything.  I used to think about what made people great.  She's the one that taught me.  _**

**_Ichigo is great.  Ichigo is great because she cares for others.  That's what it means to be great.  To be truly great you have to love.  You have to let yourself be hurt so that others are not.  That is where true greatness comes from.  Goku, Gohan they knew the secret.  Love._**

**_Love is the secret, the key, and the path._**

**_And no one can ever take that away.  No one can hide that behind lies or trickery... cause it is the truth._**

**_It just can't be hidden._**

**_Sorta like that painting... it shouldn't be hidden.  Ok, it should be but who can really resist peeking?_**

**_No!  Not going to do it.  I'll wait.  Ichigo's worth it._**

**_Dende! I'm nervous!_**

**_* * *_**

Slip's Snide Snippets  
Thursday, June 15th, 1295

I have to hand it to her, Ichigo's got flare.  The wedding was dull and uneventful.  The dance was good, Ringo is a really good dancer and we had a lot of fun.  Plus we got to see Tee, Boxers, Carge, and a few others try to steal Ichigo and hold her for ransom while Mariah lead us gals in the same effort with Roshi.

Then came the rather dull and boring gift-opening thing that only close family could attend.  Drat for being close family.

I will cherish forever the picture of Roshi's face when he read the card Ichigo wrote for the painting.  Mariah's mother did a really fine job.  Ichigo is pictured in that red half-shirt denim jacket and skirt.  She had her tiara on and was sitting on Icarus.  While the clothing is horribly out of style I grudgingly admit that Ichigo did look very nice in the outfit.

The card however was the kicker.  I guess some sort of chase thing is tradition in Ichigo's family and knowing this was coming she had changed out of her dress after the dance and into a more comfortable gi.  Roshi, the poor idiot, had stayed in his tux.

After she took off and Roshi ran out to follow we all passed the card around and got a good laugh.

"Dear Roshi,

I remember the first time I wore this and the way you looked at me.  That was one of the good days early in our relationship and I thank you for the memories.  That's what this is for, so that you will always have a few fond moments fresh... cause even you DO forget some things.

However keeping with family tradition if you want to see more of me to make new memories...  better not let me get away... catch me... if you can."

Right now both of them are flying around up there leaving yellow streaks across the sky.  I just know my mom is going to have fits with all the people reporting meteors and UFO's tonight.

Tee started a betting pool.  I'm betting she lets him catch her in about three days.  Just cause she's stubborn and way faster than he is.

Hmmm, I can see a new tradition coming from this...  I wonder if she'd mind if I borrow her idea.

Slip

* * *

_The Diary of Son Ichigo, Ichigo Kudamono Son, Son Ichigo Kudamono, _

_Hmm... The diary of me  
Friday, June 16th, 1295_

_THAT JERK!_

_I cannot believe he did not show me he could ascend to the second level of Super Saiyan!  He was not supposed to catch me that easily.  _

_But I'm glad he did._

_He is still sleeping, curled up in our bed.  Our bed.  Not mine or his, our.  I like our._

_I am just like a giddy Slip's movie girl and I LIKE IT!_

_Oh, he is just so cute._

_Almost a pity I am going to have to wake him up.  He can sleep when he is dead._

_* * * * * * * * *  _

_* * * * * * * * *_

_This is_

_* * * * * * * * * _

_      THE END_

_* * * * * * * * * _

_Thanks for reading everyone._

_Please review._


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